


Dusk

by Megalodont



Series: Darkness&Light Trilogy [2]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, How Do I Tag, I Don't Even Know, Order of the Phoenix (Harry Potter), Sequel, This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-25
Updated: 2016-12-28
Packaged: 2018-09-12 02:45:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 21
Words: 26,104
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9052126
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Megalodont/pseuds/Megalodont
Summary: While Harry is in the dark at Privet Drive, Taunna finds herself once again the Malfoy manor. Her father is taking this "heir" thing to a whole new level.So many plans, so many things Taunna doesn't understand.And with the ministry being as non-compliant as it is, Taunna finds herself torn between her father's demands and her love for Harry.





	1. Love Is A Hurricane

Taunna stared down at the letter in her hands.  
_I haven't heard from you recently and I wondered if everything was alright. Ron and Hermione haven't written to me either, but I was hoping to at least hear from you. Is it Voldemort? If it is, I understand your position._  
I just wanted something. I was worried you didn't want to be together anymore.  
Are we together? I'm still confused. I want to be with you, but I understand if you don't.   
Dudley started his new diet the other day. Thanks for the crisps you sent. They were a life saver.  
Taunna felt a shiver run down her spine.She tossed the letter into the fire and turned.  
It had been no one, but it was still safer this way. Harry would have to understand.  
Taunna reached for the door, locking it.  
She took some parchment and began writing.  
The began words spilled from her quill like the tears from her eyes. 

She sealed  an envelope and sent it off.

 

                      -Meanwhile-

The hottest day of the summer so far was drawing to a close and a drowsy silence lay over the large, square houses of Privet Drive. Cars that were usually gleaming stood dusty in their drives and lawns that were once emerald green lay parched and yellowing - 'for the use of hosepipes had been banned due to drought. Deprived of their usual car-washing and lawn-mowing pursuits, the inhabitants of Privet Drive had retreated into the shade of their cool houses, windows were thrown wide in the hope of tempting in a nonexistent breeze. The only person left outdoors was a teenage boy who was lying flat on his back in a flowerbed outside number four.  
    He was a skinny, black-haired, bespectacled boy who had the pinched, slightly unhealthy look of someone who has grown a lot in a short space of time. His jeans were torn and dirty, his T-shirt baggy and faded, and the soles of his trainers were peeling away from the uppers.  
. Harry Potter's appearance did not endear him to the neighbours, who were the sort of people who thought scruffiness ought to be punishable by law, but as he had hidden himself behind a large hydrangea bush this evening he was quite invisible to passers-by. In fact, the only way he would be spotted was if his Uncle Vernon or Aunt Petunia stuck their heads out of the living-room window and looked straight down into the flowerbed below.

At the moment, her was thinking about his girlfriend who hadn't written him all summer.It was slightly depressing.   
Vernon Dursley, Harry's uncle, suddenly spoke.  
    "Glad to see the boy's stopped trying to butt in. Where is he, anyway?"  
    "I don't know," said Aunt Petunia, unconcerned. "Not in the house."  
    Uncle Vernon grunted.  
    "Watching the news . . ." he said scathingly. "I'd like to know what he's really up to. As if a normal boy cares what's on the news - 'Dudley hasn't got a clue what's going on; doubt he knows who the Prime Minister is! Anyway, it's not as if there'd be anything about his lot on our news - "  
    "Vernon, shh!" said Aunt Petunia. "The window's open!"  
    "Oh - yes - sorry, dear."  
    The Dursleys fell silent. Harry listened to a jingle about Fruit 'n' Bran breakfast cereal while he watched Mrs Figg, a batty cat-loving old lady from nearby Wisteria Walk, amble slowly past. She was frowning and muttering to herself. Uncle Vernon's voice floated out of the window again.  
    "Dudders out for tea?"  
    "At the Polkisses'," said Aunt Petunia fondly. "He's got so many little friends, he's so popular . . ." Harry noticed an eagle owl flying towards Privet Drive carrying a letter.   
Had Taunna finally written him? As the letter dropped in his lap, he noted it was definitely Taunna's handwriting.

_I can't write much. A lot has happened since summer began. I'm staying with the Malfoys again. The Ministry removed me from my aunt and uncles because they believe my father has returned. Draco sneers at me everytime I walk into a room._  
He is jealous for me, I think.  
I've thought about everything since the day Cedric died, despite the agony. These people, they tell me you're crazy. But if Cedric were here, he'd say it's not true. You're good. I Realize just how beautiful You are,And how great Your affections are for me.My heart turns violently inside of my chest.I don't have time to maintain these regrets.

I love you.

It was more than he'd received all summer, but it had made him feel so empty.   
A prideful thought told him he deserved more than a paragraph, but he pushed the thought aside.  
   The opening notes of the music that heralded the seven o'clock news reached Harry's ears and his stomach turned over. Perhaps tonight - after a month of waiting - would be the night.  
    'Record numbers of stranded holidaymakers fill airports as the Spanish baggage-handlers' strike reaches its second week - '  
    'Give 'em a lifelong siesta, I would,' snarled Uncle Vernon over the end of the newsreaders sentence, but no matter: outside in the flowerbed, Harry's stomach seemed to unclench. If anything had happened, it would surely have been the first item on the news; death and destruction were more important than stranded holidaymakers. Taunna would have written, maybe...  
    He let out a long, slow breath and stared up at the brilliant blue sky. Every day this summer had been the same: the tension, the expectation, the temporary relief, and then mounting tension again . . . and always, growing more insistent all the time, the question of why nothing had happened yet.  
 He kept listening, just in case there was some small clue, not recognised for what it really was by the Muggles - an unexplained disappearance, perhaps, or some strange accident . . . but the baggage-handlers' strike was followed by news about the drought in the Southeast ('I hope he's listening next door!' bellowed Uncle Vernon. 'Him with his sprinklers on at three in the morning!'), then a helicopter that had almost crashed in a field in Surrey, then a famous actress's divorce from her famous husband ('As if we're interested in their sordid affairs,' sniffed Aunt Petunia, who had followed the case obsessively in every magazine she could lay her bony hands on).


	2. Hogwarts Express

Taunna Boarded the Hogwarts express quite tense and hoping Malfoy would be distracted by his Prefect duties. It took her awhile to find Harry and when she did, she discovered she wasn't the only who found him.  
Cho Chang had also stopped by to say hi.  
Taunna didn't mind Cho; she thought Cho was a good seeker(albeit pale in comparison to Harry) but right now, Taunna really wanted in that compartment.  
"Oh . . . hello, Harry," Cho smiled nervously. "Um . . . bad time?"  
"Oh . . . hi," said Harry blankly.  
    "Um . . ." said Cho. "Well . . . just thought I'd say hello . . . bye then."Rather pink in the face, she closed the door. "Hello, Taunna."  
"No offence, but now would be a good time to move." Taunna snapped. Cho rushed away.   
Taunna threw the compartment door open.  
"Well, that was rude."  
"You'd be a bit rude too if you spent your whole summer with Malfoy." She said. She noticed everyone in the compartment was covered in Stinksap. "I don't want to know." She sat down beside Harry.  
"Never mind," said Ginny bracingly. "Look, we can easily get rid of all this." She pulled out her wand. "Scourgify!"  
    The Stinksap vanished.  
    "Sorry," said Neville again, in a small voice. Taunna noticed the absence of Ron and Hermione.  
Ron and Hermione did not turn up for nearly an hour, by which time the food trolley had already gone by. Harry, Ginny Taunna and Neville had finished their pumpkin pasties and were busy swapping Chocolate Frog Cards when the compartment door slid open and they walked in, accompanied by Crookshanks and a shrill hooting Pigwidgeon in his cage.

    "I'm starving," said Ron, stowing Pigwidgeon next to Hedwig, grabbing a Chocolate Frog from Harry and throwing himself into the seat next to him. He ripped open the wrapper, bit off the frog's head and leant back with his eyes closed as though he had had a very exhausting morning.

    "Well, there are two fifth-year prefects from each house," said Hermione, looking thoroughly disgruntled as she took her seat. "Boy and girl from each."

    "And guess who's a Slytherin prefect?" said Ron, still with his eyes closed.

    "Malfoy," Taunna said. in unison with Harry, in varying degrees of confidence.

  "Course," said Ron bitterly, stuffing the rest of the Frog into his mouth and taking another.

    "And that complete cow Pansy Parkinson," said Hermione viciously. "How she got to be a prefect when she's thicker than a concussed troll . . ."

    "Who are Hufflepuff's?" Harry asked.

    "Ernie Macmillan and Hannah Abbott," said Ron thickly.

    "And Anthony Goldstein and Padma Patil for Ravenclaw," said Hermione. Taunna nodded.

"We're supposed to patrol the corridors every so often," Ron told Harry and Neville, "and we can give out punishments if people are misbehaving. I can't wait to get Crabbe and Goyle for something . . . "  
    "You're not supposed to abuse your position, Ron!" said Hermione sharply.  
    "Yeah, right, because Malfoy won't abuse it at all," said Ron sarcastically.  
    "So you're going to descend to his level?"  
    "No, I'm just going to make sure I get his mates before he gets mine."  
    "For heaven's sake, Ron - "  
    "I'll make Goyle do lines, it'll kill him, he hates writing," said Ron happily.   
"Make Crabbe recite lines, he can't read!" Taunna interjected. Ron and Harry laughed, while Hermione looked angered at her encouragement.

Suddenly.Taunna disappeared into her hood, but she figured it would be useless. The compartment door opened for the third time.  
    Harry looked around; he had expected this, but that did not make the sight of Draco Malfoy smirking at him from between his cronies Crabbe and Goyle any more enjoyable.  
    "What?" he said aggressively before Malfoy could open his mouth.  
    "Manners, Potter, or I'll have to give you a detention," drawled Malfoy, whose sleek blond hair and pointed chin were just like his father's. "You see, I, unlike you, have been made a prefect, which means that I, unlike you, have the power to hand out punishments."  
    "Yeah," said Harry, "but you, unlike me, are a git, so get out and leave us alone."  
    Ron, Hermione, Ginny and Neville laughed. Malfoy's lip curled.  
    "Tell me, how does it feel being second-best to Weasley, Potter?" he asked.  
    "Shut up, Malfoy," said Hermione sharply.  
    "I seem to have touched a nerve," said Malfoy, smirking. "Well, just watch yourself, Potter, because I'll be dogging your footsteps in case you step out of line."  
    "Get out!" said Hermione, standing up.  
"Oh, and Taunna. My mother told me to tell you something. You can't run with the wolves if you won't leave the dog pen."  
"Now, Malfoy."Hermione snarled.  
"Now, Taunna." Taunna silently stood up and followed him out. Hermione slammed the compartment door behind them. "You were told to stay away. Do you not listen?" Malfoy snapped.  
"You're not my father."  
"But he told you, didn't he? My mother told me to keep an eye on you. Which means you need to stay away from Potter, is that clear?"  
"Crystal," Taunna replied coldly.

Taunna refused to speak to anyone in her compartment until they reached Hogwarts.


	3. The New Teacher

The moment they reached Gryffindor's, Ginny was hailed by some fellow fourth-years and left to sit with them; Harry, Ron, Hermione and Neville found seats together about halfway down the table between Nearly Headless Nick, the Gryffindor house ghost, and Parvati Patil and Lavender Brown, the last two of whom gave Harry airy, overly-friendly greetings that made him quite sure they had stopped talking about him a split second before.Taunna rushed over to them, uncaring who in the Great Hall saw her.  
    "He's not there."  
     "Who?" Taunna popped in.  
     "Hagrid."  
    Ron and Hermione scanned the staff table too, though there was no real need; Hagrid's size made him instantly obvious in any lineup.  
    "He can't have left," said Ron, sounding slightly anxious.  
    "Of course he hasn't," said Harry firmly.  
    "You don't think he's . . . hurt, or anything, do you?" said Hermione uneasily.  
    "No," said Harry at once.  
    "But where is he, then?"  
    "Maybe he's not back yet. You know - from his mission - the thing he was doing over the summer for Dumbledore."  
    "Yeah . . . yeah, that'll be it," said Ron, sounding reassured, but Hermione bit her lip, looking up and down the staff table as though hoping for some conclusive explanation of Hagrid's absence.  
    "Who's that?" she said sharply, pointing towards the middle of the staff table.  
    Harry's eyes followed hers. They lit first upon Professor Dumbledore, sitting in his high-backed golden chair at the centre of the long staff table, wearing deep-purple robes scattered with silvery stars and a matching hat. Dumbledore's head was inclined towards the woman sitting next to him, who was talking into his ear. She looked, Harry thought, like somebody's maiden aunt: squat, with short, curly, mouse-brown hair in which she had placed a horrible pink Alice band that matched the fluffy pink cardigan she wore over her robes. Then she turned her face slightly to take a sip from her goblet and he saw, with a shock of recognition, a pallid, toadlike face and a pair of prominent, pouchy eyes.  
    "It's that Umbridge woman!"  
    "Who?" said Hermione.  
    "She was at my hearing, she works for Fudge!"  
    "Nice cardigan," said Ron, smirking.  
    "She works for Fudge!" Hermione repeated, frowning. "What on earth's she doing here, then?"  
    "Dunno . . ."  
    "I thought the Ministry had little say over teachers at Hogwarts?"Taunna asked.  
    Hermione scanned the staff table, her eyes narrowed.  
    "No," she muttered, "no, surely not . . ."  
    Harry did not understand what she was talking about but did not ask; his attention had been caught by Professor Grubbly-Plank who had just appeared behind the staff table; she worked her way along to the very end and took the seat that ought to have been Hagrid's. That meant the first-years must have crossed the lake and reached the castle, and sure enough, a few seconds later, the doors from the Entrance Hall opened. A long line of scared-looking first-years entered, led by Professor McGonagall, who was carrying a stool on which sat an ancient wizards hat, heavily patched and darned with a wide rip near the frayed brim.  
    The buzz of talk in the Great Hall faded away. The first-years lined up in front of the staff table facing the rest of the students, and Professor McGonagall placed the stool carefully in front of them, then stood back.  
    The first-years' faces glowed palely in the candlelight. A small boy right in the middle of the row looked as though he was trembling. Harry recalled, fleetingly, how terrified he had felt when he had stood there, waiting for the unknown test that would determine to which house he belonged.  
    The whole school waited with bated breath. Then the rip near the hat's brim opened wide like a mouth and the Sorting Hat burst into song:  
In times of old when I was new  
And Hogwarts barely started  
The founders of our noble school  
Thought never to be parted:  
United by a common goal,  
They had the selfsame yearning,  
To make the world's best magic school  
And pass along their learning.  
'Together we will build and teach!'  
The four good friends decided  
And never did they dream that they  
Might some day be divided,  
For were there such friends anywhere  
As Slytherin and Gryffindor?  
Unless it was the second pair  
Of Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw?  
So how could it have gone so wrong?  
How could such friendships fail?  
Why I was there and so can tell  
The whole sad, sorry tale.  
Said Slytherin, 'We'll teach just those  
Whose ancestry is purest.'  
Said Ravenclaw, 'We'll teach those whose  
Intelligence is surest.'  
Said Gryffindor, 'We'll teach all those  
With brave deeds to their name,'  
Said Hufflepuff, 'I'll teach the lot,  
And treat them just the same.'  
These differences caused little strife  
When first they came to light,  
For each of the four founders had  
A house in which they might  
Take only those they wanted, so,  
For instance, Slytherin  
Took only pure-blood wizards  
Of great cunning, just like him,  
And only those of sharpest mind  
Were taught by Ravenclaw  
While the bravest and the boldest  
Went to daring Gryffindor.  
Good Hufflepuff, she took the rest,  
And taught them all she knew,  
Thus the houses and their founders  
Retained friendships firm and true.  
So Hogwarts worked in harmony  
For several happy years,  
But then discord crept among us  
Feeding on our faults and fears.  
The houses that, like pillars four,  
Had once held up our school,  
Now turned upon each other and,  
Divided, sought to rule.  
And for a while, it seemed the school  
Must meet an early end,  
What with duelling and with fighting  
And the clash of friend on friend  
And at last there came c morning  
When old Slytherin departed  
And though the fighting then died out  
He left us quite downhearted.  
And never since the founders four  
Were whittled down to three  
Have the houses been united  
As they once were meant to be.  
And now the Sorting Hat is here  
And you all know the score:  
I sort you into houses  
Because that is what I'm for,  
But this year I'll go further,  
Listen closely to my song:  
Though condemned I am to split you  
Still, I worry that it's wrong,  
Though I must fulfil my duty  
And must quarter every year  
Still, I wonder whether Sorting  
May not bring the end I fear.  
Oh, know the perils, read the signs,  
The warning history shows,  
For our Hogwarts is in danger  
From external, deadly foes  
And we must unite inside her  
Or we'll crumble from within  
I have told you, I have warned you . . .  
Let the Sorting now begin.  
The Hat became motionless once more; applause broke out, though it was punctured, for the first time in Harry's memory, with muttering and whispers. All across the Great Hall students were exchanging remarks with their neighbours, and Harry, clapping along with everyone else, knew exactly what they were talking about.  
    "Branched out a bit this year, hasn't it?" said Ron, his eyebrows raised.  
    "Too right it has," said Harry.  
    The Sorting Hat usually confined itself to describing the different qualities looked for by each of the four Hogwarts houses and its own role in Sorting them. Harry could not remember it ever trying to give the school advice before.  
    "I wonder if it's ever given warnings before?" said Hermione, sounding slightly anxious.  
    "Yes, indeed," said Nearly Headless Nick knowledgeably, leaning across Neville towards her (Neville winced; it was very uncomfortable to have a ghost lean through you). "The Hat feels itself honour-bound to give the school due warning whenever it feels - "  
    But Professor McGonagall, who was waiting to read out the list of first-years' names, was giving the whispering students the sort of look that scorches. Nearly Headless Nick placed a see-through finger to his lips and sat primly upright again as the muttering came to an abrupt end. With a last frowning look that swept the four house tables, Professor McGonagall lowered her eyes to her long piece of parchment and called out the first name.  
    "Abercrombie, Euan."  
   The Hat considered for a moment, then the rip near the brim opened again and shouted:  
    "Gryffindor!"  
    Harry clapped loudly with the rest of Gryffindor house as Euan Abercrombie staggered to their table and sat down, looking as though he would like very much to sink through the floor and never be looked at again.  
    Slowly, the long line of first-years thinned. In the pauses between the names and the Sorting Hat's decisions, Harry could hear Ron's stomach rumbling loudly. Finally, "Zeller, Rose" was Sorted into Hufflepuff, and Professor McGonagall picked up the Hat and stool and marched them away as Professor Dumbledore rose to his feet.  
 "To our newcomers," said Dumbledore in a ringing voice, his arms stretched wide and a beaming smile on his lips, "welcome! To our old hands - welcome back! There is a time for speech-making, but this is not it. Tuck in!"  
When all the students had finished eating and the noise level in the Hall was starting to creep upwards again, Dumbledore got to his feet once more. Talking ceased immediately as all turned to face the Headmaster.  
    "Well, now that we are all digesting another magnificent feast, I beg a few moments of your attention for the usual start-of-term notices," said Dumbledore. "First-years ought to know that the Forest in the grounds is out-of-bounds to students - and a few of our older students ought to know by now, too." (Harry, Ron Taunna and Hermione exchanged smirks.)  
    "Mr Filch, the caretaker, has asked me, for what he tells me is the four-hundred-and-sixty-second time, to remind you all that magic is not permitted in corridors between classes, nor are a number of other things, all of which can be checked on the extensive list now fastened to Mr Filch's office door."  
    "We have had two changes in staffing this year. We are very pleased to welcome back Professor Grubbly-Plank, who will be taking Care of Magical Creatures lessons; we are also delighted to introduce Professor Umbridge, our new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher."  
    There was a round of polite but fairly unenthusiastic applause, during which Harry, Ron Taunna and Hermione exchanged slightly panicked looks; Dumbledore had not said for how long Grubbly-Plank would be teaching.  
    Dumbledore continued, "Tryouts for the house Quidditch teams will take place on the - "  
    He broke off, looking enquiringly at Professor Umbridge. As she was not much taller standing than sitting, there was a moment when nobody understood why Dumbledore had stopped talking, but then Professor Umbridge cleared her throat, "Hem, hem," and it became clear that she had got to her feet and was intending to make a speech. Taunna glanced at Harry.  
"Prepare for a snore fest." She whispered.  
    Dumbledore only looked taken aback for a moment, then he sat down smartly and looked alertly at Professor Umbridge as though he desired nothing better than to listen to her talk. Other members of staff were not as adept at hiding their surprise. Professor Sprout's eyebrows had disappeared into her flyaway hair and Professor McGonagall's mouth was as thin as Harry had ever seen it. No new teacher had ever interrupted Dumbledore before. Many of the students were smirking; this woman obviously did not know how things were done at Hogwarts.  
    "Thank you, Headmaster," Professor Umbridge simpered, "for those kind words of welcome." 


	4. Load of Waffle

Her voice was high-pitched, breathy and little-girlish and, again, Taunna wanted to be sick looking at her ridiculous cardigan. She gave another little throat-clearing cough ('hem, hem') and continued.

    "Well, it is lovely to be back at Hogwarts, I must say!" She smiled, revealing very pointed teeth. "And to see such happy little faces looking up at me!"

   None of the faces he could see looked happy. On the contrary, they all looked rather taken-aback at being addressed as though they were five years old.

    "I am very much looking forward to getting to know you all and I'm sure we'll be very good friends!"

    Students exchanged looks at this; some of them were barely concealing grins.

   "Not in that cardigan, .we won'," Taunna muttered.

    Professor Umbridge cleared her throat again ('hem, hem'), but when she continued, some of the breathiness had vanished from her voice. She sounded much more businesslike and now her words had a dull learned-by-heart sound to them.

    "The Ministry of Magic has always considered the education of young witches and wizards to be of vital importance. The rare gifts with which you were born may come to nothing if not nurtured and honed by careful instruction. The ancient skills unique to the wizarding community must be passed down the generations lest we lose them for ever. The treasure trove of magical knowledge amassed by our ancestors must be guarded, replenished and polished by those who have been called to the noble profession of teaching."

    Professor Umbridge paused here and made a little bow to her fellow staff members, none of whom bowed back to her. Professor McGonagall's dark eyebrows had contracted so that she looked positively hawk-like, and Taunna thought she saw her exchange a significant glance with Professor Sprout as Umbridge gave another little 'hem, hem' and went on with her speech.

    "Every headmaster and headmistress of Hogwarts has brought something new to the weighty task of governing this historic school, and that is as it should be, for without progress there will be stagnation and decay. There again, progress for progress's sake must be discouraged, for our tried and tested traditions often require no tinkering. A balance, then, between old and new, between permanence and change, between tradition and innovation . . ."

    Taunna was officially bored. Somebody needed to shut this woman up or she was going to fall asleep. The quiet that always filled the Hall when Dumbledore was speaking was breaking up as students put their heads together, whispering and giggling. Over on the Ravenclaw table, Cho Chang was chatting animatedly with her friends. A few seats along from Cho, Luna Lovegood had got out The Quibbler again. Meanwhile, at the Hufflepuff table, Ernie Macmillan was one of the few still staring at Professor Umbridge, but he was glassy-eyed and Harry was sure he was only pretending to listen in an attempt to live up to the new prefect's badge gleaming on his chest.

    Professor Umbridge did not seem to notice the restlessness of her audience. A full-scale riot could have broken out under her nose and she would have ploughed on with her speech. The teachers, however, were still listening very attentively, and Hermione seemed to be drinking in every word Umbridge spoke, though, judging by her expression, they were not at all to her taste.

    ". . . because some changes will be for the better, while others will come, in the fullness of time, to be recognised as errors of judgement. Meanwhile, some old habits will be retained, and rightly so, whereas others, outmoded and outworn, must be abandoned. Let us move forward, then, into a new era of openness, effectiveness and accountability, intent on preserving what ought to be preserved, perfecting what needs to be perfected, and pruning wherever we find practices that ought to be prohibited."

    She sat down. Dumbledore clapped. The staff followed his lead, though several of them brought their hands together only once or twice before stopping. A few students joined in, but most had been taken unawares by the end of the speech, not having listened to more than a few words of it, and before they could start applauding properly, Dumbledore had stood up again. Taunna sighed in relief.

    "Thank you very much, Professor Umbridge, that was most illuminating," he said, bowing to her.

"Illuminating? More like nauseating." Taunna mumbled.

 "Now, as I was saying, Quidditch tryouts will be held . . ."

    "Yes, it certainly was illuminating," said Hermione in a low voice.

    "You're not telling me you enjoyed it?" Ron said quietly, turning a glazed face towards Hermione. "That was about the dullest speech I've ever heard, and I grew up with Percy."

    "I said illuminating, not enjoyable," said Hermione. "It explained a lot."

    "Did it?" said Harry in surprise. "Sounded like a load of waffle to me."

    "There was some important stuff hidden in the waffle," said Hermione grimly.

    "Was there?" said Ron blankly.

    "How about: "progress for progress's sake must be discouraged"? How about: "pruning wherever we find practices that ought to be prohibited"?"

 

Taunna eyed Hermione.

"Are we the only ones who know what this means?"

    "Well, what does that mean?" said Ron impatiently.

    "I'll tell you what it means," said Hermione through gritted teeth. "It means the Ministry's interfering at Hogwarts."

"Dumbledore must be furious," Taunna remarked.

    There was a great clattering and banging all around them; Dumbledore had obviously just dismissed the school because everyone was standing up ready to leave the Hall. Hermione jumped up, looking flustered.

    "Ron, we're supposed to show the first-years where to go!"

    "Oh yeah," said Ron, who had obviously forgotten. "Hey - hey, you lot! Midgets!" Taunna burst out laughing.

    "Ron!"

    "Well, they are, they're titchy . . ."

    "I know, but you can't call them midgets! - First-years!" Hermione called commandingly along the table. "This way, please!"

    A group of new students walked shyly up to the gap between the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff tables, all of them trying hard not to lead the group. They did indeed seem very small;  A blond boy next to Euan Abercrombie looked petrified; 

    "See you later," Harry said dully to Ron and Hermione and he made his way out of the Great Hall alone. Taunna rushed to catch up.

"Why so glum, chum?"


	5. First Terrible Lesson

"What's the matter?" asked Hermione five minutes later, catching up with Harry and Ron halfway across the common room as they all headed towards breakfast. "You look absolutely - Oh for heaven's sake."

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Taunna stared at it for a moment, before Hermione ripped it down.

"They are the limit," said Hermione grimly. "We'll have to talk to them, Ron."

    Ron looked positively alarmed.

    "Why?"

    "Because we're prefects!" said Hermione, as they climbed out through the portrait hole. "It's up to us to stop this kind of thing!" Taunna  shook her head. Hermione was her friend, but this morning, she was not in the mood.  
"Can we talk about anything else? Taunna asked.  
"Anyway, what's up, Harry?" Hermione continued, as they walked down a flight of stairs lined with portraits of old witches and wizards, all of whom ignored them, being engrossed in their own conversation. "You look really angry about something."  
    "Seamus reckons Harry's lying about You-Know-Who," said Ron succinctly, when Harry did not respond.  
"And since when do we care what Seamus thinks?" Harry shot her a look and Taunna put her arms up in surrender.  
"Yes, Lavender thinks so too," Hermione said, gloomily.

"Been having a nice little chat with her about whether or not I'm a lying, attention-seeking prat, have you?" Harry said loudly.

    "No," said Hermione calmly. "I told her to keep her big fat mouth shut about you, actually. And it would be quite nice if you stopped jumping down our throats, Harry, because in case you haven't noticed, Ron and I are on your side too."   
There was a short pause.  
    "Sorry," said Harry in a low voice.  
    "That's quite all right," said Hermione with dignity. Then she shook her head. "Don't you remember what Dumbledore said at the last end-of-term feast?"  
    Harry said, Ron and Taunna looked at her blankly and Hermione sighed again.  
    "About You-Know-Who. He said his "gift for spreading discord and enmity is very great. We can fight it only by showing an equally strong bond of friendship and trust - " "  
    "How do you remember stuff like that?" asked Ron, looking at her in admiration.  
    "I listen, Ron," said Hermione, with a touch of asperity.  
"That is a low blow." Taunna teased.  
    "So do I, but I still couldn't tell you exactly what - "  
    "The point," Hermione pressed on loudly, "is that this sort of thing is exactly what Dumbledore was talking about. You-Know-Who's only been back two months and we've already started fighting among ourselves. And the Sorting Hat's warning was the same: stand together, be united - "  
    "And Harry got it right last night," retorted Ron. "If that means we're supposed to get matey with the Slytherins - fat chance."  
    "Well, I think it's a pity we're not trying for a bit of inter-house unity," said Hermione crossly.  
"So," Taunna began "You want to be friends with a house full of people who are exactly like my cousin and my mother. Who think you and anyone else like you shouldn't be allowed into Hogwarts. The problem with Inter-house unity against Voldemort, Hermione, is that Slytherin is _on_ Voldemort's side." Taunna explained.

They had reached the foot of the marble staircase. A line of fourth-year Ravenclaws was crossing the Entrance Hall; they caught sight of Harry and hurried to form a tighter group, as though frightened he might attack stragglers.

    "Yeah, we really ought to be trying to make friends with people like that," said Harry sarcastically.

    They followed the Ravenclaws into the Great Hall, all looking instinctively at the staff table as they entered.

The enchanted ceiling above them echoed Taunna's(And Harry's) mood; it was a miserable rain-cloud grey.

    "Dumbledore didn't even mention how long that Grubbly-Plank woman's staying," Ron said, as they made their way across to the Gryffindor table.

    "Maybe . . ." said Hermione thoughtfully.

    "What?" said both Harry and Ron together.

    "Well . . . maybe he didn't want to draw attention to Hagrid not being here."

    "What d'you mean, draw attention to it?" said Ron, half-laughing. "How could we not notice?" Taunna snorted.  
Ron and Hermione began bickering(which wasn't unusual) but this morning, Taunna just wanted to plug her ears; She had a bad headache and it didn't seem to be leaving anytime soon.  
"That's the bell," said Harry dully, because Ron and Hermione were bickering too loudly to hear it. They did not stop arguing all the way down to Snape's dungeon.

-Potions-  
Taunna filed into the classroom behind Ron,Harry and Hermione and followed them to their usual table at the back, where she sat down at the end of the table beside Ron and Hermione. She ignored the huffy, irritable noises now issuing from both of them.  
    "Settle down," said Snape coldly, shutting the door behind him.  
    There was no real need for the call to order; the moment the class had heard the door close, quiet had fallen and all fidgeting stopped. Snape's mere presence was usually enough to ensure a class's silence.  
    "Before we begin today's lesson," said Snape, sweeping over to his desk and staring around at them all, "I think it appropriate to remind you that next June you will be sitting an important examination, during which you will prove how much you have learned about the composition and use of magical potions. Moronic though some of this class undoubtedly are, I expect you to scrape an "Acceptable" in your OWL, or suffer my . . . displeasure."His gaze lingered this time on Neville, who gulped.  
    "After this year, of course, many of you will cease studying with me," Snape went on. "I take only the very best into my NEWT Potions class, which means that some of us will certainly be saying goodbye." Taunna didn't want to be sitting through a lecture.  


	6. Headache

"But we have another year to go before that happy moment of farewell," said Snape softly, "so, whether or not you are intending to attempt NEWT, I advise all of you to concentrate your efforts upon maintaining the high pass level I have come to expect from my OWL students."

    "Today we will be mixing a potion that often comes up at Ordinary Wizarding Level: the Draught of Peace, a potion to calm anxiety and soothe agitation. Be warned: if you are too heavy-handed with the ingredients you will put the drinker into a heavy and sometimes irreversible sleep, so you will need to pay close attention to what you are doing."

Taunna felt her eyelids begin to droop.  "The ingredients and method - " Snape flicked his wand " - are on the blackboard -" (they appeared there) "- you will find everything you need - '" he flicked his wand again " - in the store cupboard - " (the door of the said cupboard sprang open) " - you have an hour and a half . . . start."  
Taunna could hardly focus on the ingredients on the board. Her head was pounding, her eyes even hurt and she couldn't see too well.  
Was she going to cop out and give Snape the satisfaction of seeing her fail?  
Not a chance.

The ingredients had to be added to the cauldron in precisely the right order and quantities; the mixture had to be stirred exactly the right number of times, firstly in clockwise, then in anti-clockwise directions; the heat of the flames on which it was simmering had to be lowered to exactly the right level for a specific number of minutes before the final ingredient was added.

    "A light silver vapour should now be rising from your potion," called Snape, with ten minutes left to go.

For the first time in five years of potions class, Taunna's potion was doing just that.

She had the worst headache she'd ever experienced.

And she'd actually mixed a potion correctly.

Harry,however, was not doing as well.

"Did you do everything on the third line, Potter?" Snape asked.

    "No," said Harry very quietly.

    "I beg your pardon?"

    "No," said Harry, more loudly. "I forgot the hellebore."

    "I know you did, Potter, which means that this mess is utterly worthless. Evanesce."

    The contents of Harry's potion vanished; he was left standing foolishly beside an empty cauldron.

    "Those of you who have managed to read the instructions, fill one flagon with a sample of your potion, label it clearly with your name and bring it up to my desk for testing," said Snape. "Homework: twelve inches of parchment on the properties of moonstone and its uses in potion-making, to be handed in on Thursday."

Taunna followed the instructions and returned to her seat to tidy the area.  
When at long last the bell rang, Harry was first out of the dungeon. Taunna  struggled slightly.   
"You guys go on to Lunch. I'm going to see Madam Pomfrey." Taunna ushered Ron and Hermione out and headed to the hospital wing.    
The hospital wing was fairly empty, considering it was the first day.  Taunna stumbled in and Madam Pomfrey eyed her.  
"What can I do for you, Ms. Tonks?"  
"I have a really bad headache. I've been finding it hard to focus, and my head is throbbing."Taunna reported.  
"Well, let's take a look and make sure nothing serious is wrong." Madam Pomfrey checked her eyes, her  forehead, the top of her head and her ears. "Well, you don't seem to have any injuries or serious illnesses.  I think you might just be fighting off a flu. Just take a headache potion and if it persists, come and see me again." Madam Pomfrey said, handing her a small flask. Taunna drank the potion and nodded.  
"Thanks." She left the Hospital Wing and made her way to lunch. As she sat down,Harry left."What's his problem?" She asked.  
"Professor Snape." Hermione said.

When they entered the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom they found Professor Umbridge already seated at the teacher's desk, wearing the fluffy pink cardigan of the night before and the black velvet bow on top of her head.   
    The class was quiet as it entered the room; Professor Umbridge was, as yet, an unknown quantity and nobody knew how strict a disciplinarian she was likely to be.  
    "Well, good afternoon!" she said, when finally the whole class had sat down.  
    A few people mumbled "good afternoon" in reply.  
    "Tut, tut," said Professor Umbridge. "That won't do, now, will it? I should like you, please, to reply "Good afternoon, Professor Umbridge". One more time, please. Good afternoon, class!"  
    "Good afternoon, Professor Umbridge," they chanted back at her.Taunna rolled her eyes.  
    "There, now," said Professor Umbridge sweetly. "That wasn't too difficult, was it? Wands away and quills out, please."  
    Many of the class exchanged gloomy looks; the order 'wands away' had never yet been followed by a lesson they had found interesting. Professor Umbridge opened her handbag, extracted her own wand, which was an unusually short one, and tapped the blackboard sharply with it; words appeared on the board at once:  
Defence Against the Dark Arts  
A Return to Basic Principles  
"Well now, your teaching in this subject has been rather disrupted and fragmented, hasn't it?" stated Professor Umbridge, turning to face the class with her hands clasped neatly in front of her. "The constant changing of teachers, many of whom do not seem to have followed any Ministry-approved curriculum, has unfortunately resulted in your being far below the standard we would expect to see in your OWL year." Taunna eyed her.  
    "You will be pleased to know, however, that these problems are now to be rectified. We will be following a carefully structured, theory-centred, Ministry-approved course of defensive magic this year. Copy down the following, please." The word Theory made Taunna want to smash her head against the desk.  
    She rapped the blackboard again; the first message vanished and was replaced by the 'Course Aims'.  
1.    Understanding the principles underlying defensive magic.  
2.    Learning to recognise situations in which defensive magic can legally  
he used  
3.    Placing the use of defensive magic in a context for practical use.  
For a couple of minutes the room was full of the sound of scratching quills on parchment. When everyone had copied down Professor Umbridge's three course aims she asked, "Has everybody got a copy of Defensive Magical Theory by Wilbert Slinkhard?"  
    There was a dull murmur of assent throughout the class.  
    "I think we'll try that again," said Professor Umbridge. "When I ask you a question, I should like you to reply, "Yes, Professor Umbridge", or "No, Professor Umbridge'. So: has everyone got a copy of Defensive Magical Theory by Wilbert Slinkhard?"  
    "Yes, Professor Umbridge," rang through the room.  
    "Good," said Professor Umbridge. "I should like you to turn to page five and read "Chapter One, Basics for Beginners". There will be no need to talk."  
    Professor Umbridge left the blackboard and settled herself in the chair behind the teacher's desk, observing them all closely with those pouchy toad's eyes.  Taunna groaned internally.  


	7. Best Show Ever

Hermione had not even opened her copy of Defensive Magical Theory. She was staring fixedly at Professor Umbridge with her hand in the air.  
    Taunna was awestruck. In all her years knowing her, Hermione had never ever neglected to read when instructed to, or resisted the temptation to open any book that came under her nose. She looked at her enquiringly, but she merely shook her head slightly to indicate that she was not about to answer questions, and continued to stare at Professor Umbridge, who was looking just as resolutely in another direction.  
    After several more minutes had passed, however, Taunna was not the only one watching Hermione. The chapter they had been instructed to read was so tedious that more and more people were choosing to watch Hermione's mute attempt to catch Professor Umbridge's eye rather than struggle on with 'Basics for Beginners'.  
    When more than half the class were staring at Hermione rather than at their books, Professor Umbridge seemed to decide that she could ignore the situation no longer.  
    '"Did you want to ask something about the chapter, dear?" she asked Hermione, as though she had only just noticed her.  
    "Not about the chapter, no," said Hermione.  
    "Well, we're reading just now," said Professor Umbridge, showing her small pointed teeth. "If you have other queries we can deal with them at the end of class."  
    "I've got a query about your course aims," said Hermione. Taunna was flabberghasted.  
    Professor Umbridge raised her eyebrows.  
    "And your name is?"  
    "Hermione Granger," said Hermione.  
    "Well, Miss Granger, I think the course aims are perfectly clear if you read them through carefully," said Professor Umbridge in a voice of determined sweetness. She was determined to avoid this question.  
    "Well, I don't," said Hermione bluntly. "There's nothing written up there about using defensive spells."  
Now She'd done it.

"Using defensive spells?" Professor Umbridge repeated with a little laugh. "Why, I can't imagine any situation arising in my classroom that would require you to use a defensive spell, Miss Granger. You surely aren't expecting to be attacked during class?"

    "We're not going to use magic?" Ron exclaimed loudly.

    "Students raise their hands when they wish to speak in my class, Mr - ?"

    "Weasley," said Ron, thrusting his hand into the air.

    Professor Umbridge, smiling still more widely, turned her back on him. Harry and Hermione immediately raised their hands too. Professor Umbridge's pouchy eyes lingered on Harry for a moment before she addressed Hermione.

    "Yes, Miss Granger? You wanted to ask something else?"

    "Yes," said Hermione. "Surely the whole point of Defence Against the Dark Arts is to practise defensive spells?"

    "Are you a Ministry-trained educational expert, Miss Granger?" asked Professor Umbridge, in her falsely sweet voice.

    "No, but - "

    "Well then, I'm afraid you are not qualified to decide what the "whole point" of any class is. Wizards much older and cleverer than you have devised our new programme of study. You will be learning about defensive spells in a secure, risk-free way - "

"I don't know anyone who's more clever than Hermione, she's the brightest witch of the age," Taunna remarked smugly. Hermione blushed.

"What did I just say about talking out of turn, ms?"

"Tonks, or Malfoy or whatever name the ministry wants to slap on me now." Taunna quipped.Umbridge gave her a look before turning away.

 "Parvati Patil, and isn't there a practical bit in our Defence Against

    the Dark Arts OWL? Aren't we supposed to show that we can actually do the counter-curses and things?"

    "As long as you have studied the theory hard enough, there is no reason why you should not be able to perform the spells under carefully controlled examination conditions," said Professor Umbridge dismissively.

    "Without ever practising them beforehand?" said Parvati incredulously. "Are you telling us that the first time we'll get to do the spells will be during our exam?"

    "I repeat, as long as you have studied the theory hard enough - "

"And what good's a theory going to be in the real world?" said Harry loudly, his fist in the air.

    Professor Umbridge looked up.

    "This is school, Mr Potter, not the real world," she said softly.

    "So we're not supposed to be prepared for what's waiting for us out there?"

    "There is nothing waiting out there, Mr Potter."

    "Oh, yeah?" said Harry. 

"Who do you imagine wants to attack children like yourselves?" enquired Professor Umbridge in a horribly honeyed voice. Taunna hoped Harry didn't lose his temper.  
"Hmm, let's think . . ." said Harry in a mock thoughtful voice. "Maybe . . . Lord Voldemort?" Taunna exhaled heatedly.  
    Ron gasped; Lavender Brown uttered a little scream; Neville slipped sideways off his stool. Professor Umbridge, however, did not flinch. She was staring at Harry with a grimly satisfied expression on her face.  
    "Ten points from Gryffindor, Mr Potter."  
    The classroom was silent and still. Everyone was staring at either Umbridge or Harry.  
    "Now, let me make a few things quite plain."  
    Professor Umbridge stood up and leant towards them, her stubby-fingered hands splayed on her desk.  
    "You have been told that a certain Dark wizard has returned from the dead - "  
    "He wasn't dead," said Harry angrily, "but yeah, he's returned!"  
    "Mr-Potter-you-have-already-lost-your-house-ten-points-do-not-make-matters-worse-for-yourself," said Professor Umbridge in one breath without looking at him. "As I was saying, you have been informed that a certain Dark wizard is at large once again. This is a lie."  
    "It is NOT a lie!" said Harry. "I saw him, I fought him!"  
    "Detention, Mr Potter!" said Professor Umbridge triumphantly. "Tomorrow evening. Five o'clock. My office. I repeat, this is a lie. The Ministry of Magic guarantees that you are not in danger from any Dark wizard. If you are still worried, by all means, come and see me outside class hours. If someone is alarming you with fibs about reborn Dark wizards, I would like to hear about it. I am here to help. I am your friend. And now, you will kindly continue your reading. Page five, "Basics for Beginners"."  
    Professor Umbridge sat down behind her desk. Harry, however, stood up. Everyone was staring at him; Seamus looked half-scared, half-fascinated.  
   Taunna rubbed her temples.  
He'd just lost his temper.  
    "So, according to you, Cedric Diggory dropped dead of his own accord, did he?" Harry asked.  
"Harry, did you have to bring that up?" Taunna whispered.  


	8. And The Finale

They stared avidly from Harry to Professor Umbridge, who had raised her eyes and was staring at him without a trace of a fake smile on her face.  
    "Cedric Diggory's death was a tragic accident," she said coldly.  
    "It was murder," said Harry. "Voldemort killed him and you know it."  
    Professor Umbridge's face was quite blank. For a moment, Taunna thought she was going to scream at him. Then she said, in her softest, most sweetly girlish voice, "Come here, Mr Potter, dear."  
Taunna didn't trust that sweet voice.  
Not for a second.

He kicked his chair aside, strode around Ron and Hermione and up to the teacher's desk. 

Professor Umbridge pulled a small roll of pink parchment out of her handbag, stretched it out on the desk, dipped her quill into a bottle of ink and started scribbling.

" Take this to Professor McGonagall, dear," said Professor Umbridge, holding out the note to him.  
Taunna watched him leave and exhaled.  
He was in deep trouble.

 

-The Next Morning-

"Morning," Harry said brightly to Ron and Hermione as he joined them at the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall.Taunna Smiled.  
    "What are you looking so pleased about?" said Ron, eyeing Harry in surprise.Taunna scowled at Ron.  
    "Erm . . . Quidditch later," said Harry happily, pulling a large platter of bacon and eggs towards him.  
    "Oh . . . yeah . . ." said Ron. He put down the piece of toast he was eating and took a large swig of pumpkin juice. Then he said, "Listen . . . you don't fancy going out a bit earlier with me, do you? Just to - er - give me some practice before training? So I can, you know, get my eye in a bit." Taunna rolled her eyes.  
"You boys and Quidditch."

 "Look, I don't think you should," said Hermione seriously. "You're both really behind on homework as it - "

    But she broke off; the morning post was arriving and, as usual, the Daily Prophet was soaring towards her in the beak of a screech owl, which landed perilously close to the sugar bowl and held out a leg. Hermione pushed a Knut into its leather pouch, took the newspaper, and scanned the front page critically as the owl took off.

    "Anything interesting?" said Ron. Harry grinned, knowing Ron was keen to keep her off the subject of homework.

    "No," she sighed, "just some guff about the bass player in the Weird Sisters getting married."

"And That's newsworthy because?" Taunna deadpanned.

    Hermione opened the paper and disappeared behind it.

Harry stared at a torn piece for a second,before declaring

"Look at this!"

 Most of the page was devoted to an advertisement for Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions, which was apparently having a sale.

    'Hey!' he said, flattening it down so Hermione and Ron could see it. 'Look at this!'

    'I've got all the robes I want,' said Ron. 

'No,' said Harry. 'Look . . . this little piece here . . ." Ron and Hermione bent closer to read it; the item was barely an inch long and placed right at the bottom of a column. Taunna squinted to see it. It was headlined:

'TRESPASS AT MINISTRY

Sturgis Podmore, 38, of number two, Laburnum Gardens, Clapham, has appeared in front of the Wizengamot charged with trespass and attempted robbery at the Ministry of Magic on 31" August. Podmore was arrested by Ministry of Magic watch wizard Eric Munch, who found him attempting to force his way through a top-security door at one o'clock in the morning. Podmore, who refused to speak, in his own defence, was convicted on both charges and sentenced to six months in Azkaban.'   
"Sturgis Podmore?" said Ron slowly. "He's that bloke who looks like his head's been thatched, isn't he? He's one of the Ord-"  
    "Ron, shh!" said Hermione, casting a terrified look around them.  
    "Six months in Azkaban!" whispered Harry, shocked. "Just for trying to get through a door!"  
"I've heard of worse," Taunna said.  
    "Don't be silly, it wasn't just for trying to get through a door. What on earth was he doing at the Ministry of Magic at one o'clock in the morning?"breathed Hermione.  
    "D'you reckon he was doing something for the Order?" Ron muttered.  
    "Wait a moment . . ." said Harry slowly. "Sturgis was supposed to come and see us off, remember?"  
    The other two looked at him. Taunna resumed eating; she wasn't there.  
    "Yeah, he was supposed to be part of our guard going to King's Cross, remember? And Moody was all annoyed because he didn't turn up; so he couldn't have been on a job for them, could he?"  
    "Well, maybe they didn't expect him to get caught," said Hermione.  
    "It could be a frame-up!" Ron exclaimed excitedly. "No - listen!" he went on, dropping his voice dramatically at the threatening look on Hermione's face.Taunna looked at him.  
"Enlighten me."  
"The Ministry suspects he's one of Dumbledore's lot so - I dunno - they lured him to the Ministry, and he wasn't trying to get through a door at all! Maybe they've just made something up to get him!"  
    There was a pause while Harry,Taunna and Hermione considered this. Taunna was surprised by this dose of brilliance from Ron. Hermione, on the other hand, looked rather impressed.  
    "Do you know, I wouldn't be at all surprised if that were true."  
"Ron, When did you get so smart?" Taunna asked.


	9. Peace and Quiet

"Right, well, I think we should tackle that essay for Sprout on self-fertilising shrubs first and if we're lucky we'll be able to start McGonagall's Inanimatus Conjurus Spell before lunch.." Hermione said. Taunna grit her teeth.  
"I mean, we can do it tonight," said Ron.She had already finished hers, but of course they hadn't. 

 "How was practice?" asked Hermione rather coolly half an hour later, as Harry and Ron climbed through the portrait hole into the Gryffindor common room.

    "It was - " Harry began.

    "Completely lousy," said Ron in a hollow voice, sinking into a chair beside Hermione. She looked up at Ron and her frostiness seemed to melt.Taunna stared at Harry quietly. She hadn't had much of a chance to talk to him about... Wherever they stood now.   
Taunna swallowed.  She felt like a leech, incessantly holding on.  
They spent the whole of Sunday in the common room, buried in ! heir books while the room around them filled up, then emptied. It was another clear, fine day and most of their fellow Gryffindors spent the day out in the grounds, enjoying what might well be some of the last sunshine that year.   
Taunna sat in the chair,  unmoving, like a vegetable. 

  "You know, we probably should try and get more homework done during the week." Harry muttered to Ron, as they finally laid aside Professor McGonagall's long essay on the Inanimatus Conjurus Spell and turned miserably to Professor Sinistra's equally long and difficult essay about Jupiter's many moons.

    "Yeah." said Ron, rubbing slightly bloodshot eyes and throwing his fifth spoiled bit of parchment into the fire beside them.   
"Why don't you do it as soon as it's set?" Taunna snarked.   
Harry furrowed his eyebrows together,  before returning to the essay. 

And so they worked on while the sky outside the windows became steadily darker. Slowly, the crowd in the common room began to thin again. At half past eleven, Hermione wandered over to them, yawning.

    "Nearly done?"

    "No." said Ron shortly.

    "Jupiter's biggest moon is Ganymede, not Callisto," she said, pointing over Ron's shoulder at a line in his Astronomy essay, "and it's lo that's got the volcanoes."

    "Thanks." snarled Ron, scratching out the offending sentences.

"Ron - "

    "I haven't got time to listen to a sermon, all right, Hermione, I'm up to my neck in it here - "

    No - look!"

    Hermione was pointing to the nearest window. Harry and Ron both looked over. A handsome screech owl was standing on the windowsill, gazing into the room at Ron.

    "Isn't that Hermes?" said Hermione, sounding amazed.

    "Blimey, it is!" said Ron quietly, throwing down his quill and getting to his feet. "What's Percy writing to me for?"

    He crossed to the window and opened it; Hermes flew inside, landed on Ron's essay and held out a leg to which a letter was attached. Ron took the letter off it and the owl departed at once, leaving inky footprints across Ron's drawing of the moon Io.

    "That's definitely Percy's handwriting." said Ron, sinking back into his chair.

Harry looked up at Ron.

    "Well," he said, trying to sound as though he found the whole thing a joke, "if you want to - er - what is it?: - he checked Percy's letter - "Oh yeah - "sever ties" with me, I swear I won't get violent."

    "Give it back," said Ron, holding out his hand. "He is - " Ron said jerkily, tearing Percy's letter in half "the worlds - " he tore it into quarters "biggest - " he tore it into eighths "git." He threw the pieces into the fire.

    "Come on, we've got to get this finished sometime before dawn," he said briskly to Harry, pulling Professor Sinistra's essay back towards him.

    Hermione was looking at Ron with an odd expression on her face.

    "Oh, give them here," she said abruptly.

    "What?" said Ron.

    "Give them to me, I'll look through them and correct them," she said. Taunna sighed.


	10. The Conundrum

It was nearly midnight when Harry returned from Umbridge's detention. Taunna knew something was wrong, but Harry wasn't really talking to her lately.  Taunna, Ron and Hermione had sat up waiting for him. Harry seemed pleased to see them, although he didn't seem to pertinent to discuss the details of his detention. 

  Hermione was the first one to notice his hand.   
"What's wrong with your hand?" Taunna noticed quickly after Hermione.   
"Nothing. "Harry said, producing his left hand.   
"Your other hand. "Taunna said, grabbing his wrist. 

    "I  reckon you should complain about this," said Ron in a low voice.

    "No," said Harry flatly.

    "McGonagall would go nuts if she knew - "

    "Yeah, she probably would," said Harry dully. "And how long do you reckon it'd take Umbridge to pass another decree saying anyone who complains about the High Inquisitor gets sacked immediately?"

    Ron opened his mouth to retort but nothing came out and, after a moment, he closed it again, defeated.

    "She's an awful woman," said Hermione in a small voice.  
"Awful. "Taunna agreed.  
"You know, I was just saying to Ron when you came in . . . we've got to do something about her."

    "I suggested poison," said Ron grimly.

    "No . . . I mean, something about what a dreadful teacher she is, and how we're not going to learn any Defence from her at all," said Hermione.

    "Well, what can we do about that?" Taunna asked.  
  "S too late, isn't it? She's got the job, she's here to stay. Fudge'll make sure of that." said Ron, yawning.     
"Well," said Hermione tentatively. "You know, I was thinking today . . ." she shot a slightly nervous look at Harry and then plunged on, "I was thinking that - maybe the time's come when we should just - just do it ourselves."

    "Do what ourselves?: said Harry suspiciously.  
   "Well - learn Defence Against the Dark Arts ourselves," said Hermione.

    "Come off it," groaned Ron. "You want us to do extra work? D'you realise Harry and I are behind on homework again and it's only the second week?"

    "But this is much more important than homework!" said Hermione.

    Harry and Ron goggled at her. Taunna was beginning to understand. 

    "I didn't think there was anything in the universe more important than homework!" said Ron.

    "Don't be silly, of course there is," said Hermione, and Harry saw, with an ominous feeling, that her face was suddenly alight with the kind of fervour that SPEW usually inspired in her. "It's about preparing ourselves, like Harry said in Umbridge's first lesson, for what's waiting for us out there. It's about making sure we really can defend ourselves. If we don't learn anything for a whole year - "

    "We can't do much by ourselves,' said Ron in a defeated voice. 'I mean, all right, we can go and look jinxes up in the library and try and practise them, I suppose - "

    "No, I agree, we've gone past the stage where we can just learn things out of books," said Hermione. "We need a teacher, a proper one, who can show us how to use the spells and correct us if we're going wrong."

    "If you're talking about Lupin . . ."Harry began.

    "No, no, I'm not talking about Lupin," said Hermione. "He's too busy with the Order and, anyway, the most we could see him is during Hogsmeade weekends and that's not nearly often enough."

    "Who, then?" said Harry, frowning at her.

    Hermione heaved a very deep sigh.

    Taunna looked at Harry.   
"What I think Hermione is trying to say is that we need someone who's there, who knows these spells, who's used most of them before and knows how it feels to use them in the real world. Someone like you, Harry." She explained. 

    There was a moment's silence. A light night breeze rattled the windowpanes behind Ron, and the fire guttered.

      Harry stared at her. Then he turned to Ron, ready to exchange the exasperated looks they sometimes shared when Hermione elaborated on far-fetched schemes like SPEW. To Harry's consternation, however, Ron did not look exasperated.

    He was frowning slightly, apparently thinking. Then he said, "That's an idea."

    "What's an idea?" said Harry.

   "'You," said Ron. "Teaching us to do it."

    "But . . ."

    Harry was grinning now, sure they were pulling his leg.

    "But I'm not a teacher, I can't - "

    "Harry, you're the best in the year at Defence Against the Dark Arts," said Hermione.

    "Me?" said Harry now grinning more broadly than ever. "No I'm rot, you've beaten me in every test - "

    '"Actually I haven't," said Hermione coolly. "You beat me in our third year - the only year we both sat the test and had a teacher who actually knew the subject. But I'm not talking about test results, Harry. Think what you've clone!"

    "First year - you saved the Philosopher's Stone from You-Know-Who."Taunna began. 

    "But that was luck," said Harry, "it wasn't skill - "

    '" Second year,' "Taunna interrupted, "you killed the Basilisk and destroyed Riddle."

    "Yeah, but if Fawkes hadn't turned up, I - "

    "Third year," said Ron, louder still, "you fought off about a hundred Dementors at once - "

    "You know that was a fluke, if the Time-Turner hadn't - "

    "Last year,' Ron said, almost shouting now, "you fought off You-know-Who again - "

    "Listen to me!" said Harry, almost angrily, because all three of them were smirking.  "Just listen to me, all right? It sounds great when you say it like that, but all that stuff was luck - I didn't know what I was doing half the time, I didn't plan any of it, I just did whatever I could think of, and I nearly always had help - "

    Ron and Hermione were still smirking and Harry felt his temper rise; he wasn't even sure why he was feeling so angry. Taunna looked at him, her eyes wondering how he could not believe in himself. 

    "Don't sit there grinning like you know better than I do, I was there, wasn't I?" he said heatedly. "I know what went on, all right? And I didn't get through any of that because I was brilliant at Defence Against the Dark Arts, I got through it all because - because help came at the right time, or because I guessed right - but I just blundered through it all, I didn't have a clue what I was doing - STOP LAUGHING!'"

    Taunna gently cupped his face and met his eyes.

    "Harry," she said timidly, "don't you see? This . . . this is exactly why we need you . . . we need to know what it's r-really like . . . facing him . . . facing Voldemort." Harry exhaled.   
Taunna barely heard Ron and Hermione go to bed, but neither she or Harry moved.   
"Harry?" Taunna mumbled quietly.   
"Yes." Came a soft reply.   
"Where are you right now? "She asked.   
"What?"  
"I don't mean in the physical sense. I mean in the sense of self. I just mean...You've changed, Harry. And not entirely for the better. "  
"I guess. "  
"You've never shut me out before, Harry. Why won't you talk to me? "Taunna whispered.   
"Am I really doing that?" Harry asked. She nodded.   
"I'm sorry. "He said quietly. 


	11. The Decision

Hermione made no mention of Harry giving Defence Against the Dark Arts lessons for two whole weeks after the original suggestion. Harry's detentions with Umbridge were finally over; Ron had had four more Quidditch practices and not been shouted at during the last two; Taunna  and all four of them had managed to Vanish their mice in Transfiguration (Hermione had actually progressed to Vanishing kittens), before the subject was broached again,on a wild, blustery evening at the end of September, when the three of them were sitting in the library, looking up potion ingredients for Snape.  
    "I was wondering," Hermione said suddenly, "whether you'd thought any more about Defence Against the Dark Arts, Harry."  
    "'Course I have," said Harry grumpily, "can't forget it, can we, with that hag teaching us - "  
    '"I meant the idea Taunna and I." Hermione said.  
    Harry did not answer at once. He pretended to be perusing a page of Asiatic Anti-Venoms, because he did not want to say what was in his mind.  
    He had given the matter a great deal of thought over the past fortnight. Sometimes it seemed an insane idea, just as it had on the night Hermione had proposed it, but at others, he had found himself thinking about the spells that had served him best in his various encounters with Dark creatures and Death Eaters - found himself, in fact, subconsciously planning lessons . . .  
    "Well," he said slowly, when he could no longer pretend to find Asiatic Anti-Venoms interesting, "yeah, I - I've thought about it a bit."  
    "And?" Taunna asked eagerly.  
    "I dunno," said Harry, playing for time. He looked up at Ron. Taunna frowned.  
    "I thought it was a good idea from the start," said Ron, who seemed keener to join in this conversation now that he was sure Harry was not going to start shouting again.  
    Harry shifted uncomfortably in his chair.  
    "You did listen to what I said about a load of it being luck, didn't you?"  
    "Yes, Harry," said Hermione gently, "but all the same, there's no point pretending that you're not good at Defence Against the Dark Arts, because you are. You were the only person last year who could throw off the Imperius Curse completely, you can produce a Patronus, you can do all sorts of stuff that full-grown wizards can't, Viktor always said - "  
    Ron looked round at her so fast he appeared to crick his neck. Rubbing it, he said, "Yeah? What did Vicky say?"  
    "Ho ho," said Hermione in a bored voice. "He said Harry knew how to do stuff even he didn't, and he was in the final year at Durmstrang."  
    Ron was looking at Hermione suspiciously. Taunna knew that they were treading dangerous territory.  
    "You're not still in contact with him, are you?"  
    "So what if I am.?" said Hermione coolly, though her face was a little pink. "I can have a pen-pal if I - "  
    "Alright,Children." Taunna shot up her hands to separate them.  
    "Well, what do you think? Will you teach us?"Hermione asked,exhaling.  
    "Just you, on toTaunna and Ron, yeah?"  
    "Well," said Hermione, looking a mite anxious again. "Well . . . now, don't fly off the handle again, Harry, please . . . but I really think you ought to teach anyone who wants to learn. I mean, we're talking about defending ourselves against V-Voldemort. Oh, don't be pathetic, Ron. It doesn't seem fair if we don't offer the chance to other people."  
    Harry considered this for a moment, then said, "Yeah, but I doubt anyone except you two would want to be taught by me. I'm a nutter, remember?"  
    "Well, I think you might be surprised how many people would be interested in hearing what you've got to say," said Hermione seriously. "Look," she leant towards him - Ron, who was still watching her with a frown on his face, leant forwards to listen too - "you know the first weekend in October's a Hogsmeade weekend? How would it be if we tell anyone who's interested to meet us in the village and we can talk it over?"  
    "Why do we have to do it outside school?" said Ron. Taunna raised an eyebrow.  
    "Because," said Hermione, returning to the diagram of the Chinese Chomping Cabbage she was copying, "I don't think Umbridge would be very happy if she found out what we were up to."  
  
  
*  
  
    Hermione announced rather suddenly what they had been doing.  
"Ron and I have been sounding out people who we thought might want to learn some proper Defence Against the Dark Arts, and there are a couple who seem interested. We've told them to meet us in Hogsmeade."  
    "Right," said Harry vaguely.  
      
    They walked down the main street past Zonko's Wizarding Joke Shop, where they were not surprised to see Fred, George and Lee Jordan, past the post office, from which owls issued at regular intervals, and turned up a side-street at the top of which stood a small inn. A battered wooden sign hung from a rusty bracket over the door, with a picture on it of a wild boar's severed head, leaking onto the white cloth around it. The sign creaked in the wind as they approached. All three of them hesitated outside the door.  
    "Well, come on," said Hermione, slightly nervously. Harry led the way inside.  
    It was not at all like the Three Broomsticks, whose large bar gave an impression of gleaming warmth and cleanliness. The Hog's Head bar comprised one small, dingy and very dirty room that smelled strongly of something that might have been goats. The bay windows were so encrusted with grime that very little daylight could permeate the room, which was lit instead with the stubs of candles sitting on rough wooden tables. The floor seemed at first glance to be compressed earth, though as Harry stepped on to it he realised that there was stone beneath what seemed to be the accumulated filth of centuries.  
   There was a man at the bar whose whole head was wrapped in dirty grey bandages, though he was still managing to gulp endless glasses of some smoking, fiery substance through a slit over his mouth; two figures shrouded in hoods sat at a table in one of the windows;   
    "I don't know about this, Hermione," Harry muttered, as they crossed to the bar. He was looking particularly at the heavily veiled witch. "Has it occurred to you Umbridge might be under that?"  
    Taunna cast an appraising eye over the veiled figure.  
    "Umbridge is shorter than that woman," she said quietly.  
"And anyway, even if Umbridge does come in here there's nothing she can do to stop us, Harry, because I've double- and triple-checked the school rules. We're not out of bounds; I specifically asked Professor Flitwick whether students were allowed to come in the Hog's Head, and he said yes, but he advised me strongly to bring our own glasses. And I've looked up everything I can think of about study groups and homework groups and they're definitely allowed. I just don't think it's a good idea if we parade what we're doing."Hermione said.  
    "No," said Harry dryly, "especially as it's not exactly a homework group you're planning, is it?"  
    The barman sidled towards them out of a back room. He was a grumpy-looking old man with a great deal of long grey hair and beard. He was tall and thin and looked vaguely familiar.  
    "What?" he grunted.  
    "Four Butterbeers, please," said Hermione.  
    The man reached beneath the counter and pulled up four very dusty, very dirty bottles, which he slammed on the bar.  
    "Six Sickles," he said.  
    "I'll get them," said Harry quickly, passing over the silver. The barman's eyes travelled over Harry, resting for a fraction of a second on his scar. Then he turned away and deposited Harry's money in an ancient wooden till whose drawer slid open automatically to receive it. Harry, Ron and Hermione retreated to the furthest table from the bar and sat down, looking around. The man in the dirty grey bandages rapped the counter with his knuckles and received another smoking drink from the barman.  
    "You know what?" Ron murmured, looking over at the bar with enthusiasm. "We could order anything we liked in here. I bet that bloke would sell us anything, he wouldn't care. I've always wanted to try Firewhisky - "  
"Ron!"Taunna whisper-yelled incredulously.  
    "You - are - a - prefect," snarled Hermione.  
    "Oh," said Ron, the smile fading from his face. "Yeah . . ."  
    "So, who did you say is supposed to be meeting us?" Harry asked, wrenching open the rusty top of his Butterbeer and taking a swig.  
    "Just a couple of people," Hermione repeated, checking her watch and looking anxiously towards the door. "I told them to be here about now and I'm sure they all know where it is - oh, look, this might be them now."  
    The door of the pub had opened. A thick band of dusty sunlight split the room in two for a moment and then vanished, blocked by the incoming rush of a crowd of people.  
    First came Neville with Dean and Lavender, who were closely followed by Parvati and Padma Patil with Cho and one of her usually-giggling girlfriends, then (on her own and looking so dreamy she might have walked in by accident) Luna Lovegood; then Katie Bell, Alicia Spinnet and Angelina Johnson, Colin and Dennis Creevey Ernie Macmillan, Justin Finch-Fletchley, Hannah Abbott, a Hufflepuff girl with a long plait clown her back whose name Harry did not know; three Ravenclaw boys he was pretty sure were called Anthony Goldstein, Michael Corner and Terry Boot, Ginny, closely followed by a tall skinny blond boy with an upturned nose whom Taunna recognized vaguely as being a member of the Hufflepuff Quidditch team and, bringing up the rear, Fred and George Weasley with their friend Lee Jordan, all three of whom were carrying large paper bags crammed with Zonko's merchandise.  
    "A couple of people?" Taunna laughed. "A couple of people?"  
    "Yes, well, the idea seemed quite popular," said Hermione happily. "Ron, do you want to pull up some more chairs?"  
    The barman had frozen in the act of wiping out a glass with a rag so filthy it looked as though it had never been washed. Possibly, he had never seen his pub so full. 


	12. The Meeting

"What have you been telling people?" Harry asked in a low voice. "What are they expecting?"  
    "I've told you, they just want to hear what you've got to say," said Hermione soothingly; but Harry continued to look at her so furiously that she added quickly, "you don't have to do anything yet, I'll speak to them first."  
    "Hi, Harry" said Neville, beaming and taking a seat opposite him.  
    In twos and threes the new arrivals settled around Harry, Ron and Hermione, some looking rather excited, others curious, Luna Lovegood gazing dreamily into space. When everybody had pulled up a chair, the chatter died out. Every eye was upon Harry. Taunna took a sip of her butterbeer and looked around quietly.  
    "Er," said Hermione, her voice slightly higher than usual out of nerves. "Well - er - hi."  
    The group focused its attention on her instead, though eyes continued to dart back regularly to Harry.  
    "Well . . . erm . . . well, you know why you're here. Erm . . . well, Harry here had the idea - I mean" (Harry had thrown her a sharp look) "I had the idea - that it might be good if people who wanted to study Defence Against the Dark Arts - and I mean, really study it, you know, not the rubbish that Umbridge is doing with us - "(Hermione's voice became suddenly much stronger and more confident) " - because nobody could call that Defence Against the Dark Arts - " ('Hear, hear,' said Anthony Goldstein, and Hermione looked heartened) " - Well, I thought it would be good if we, well, took matters into our own hands."  
    She paused, looked sideways at Harry and went on, "And by that I mean learning how to defend ourselves properly, not just in theory but doing the real spells - "  
    "You want to pass your Defence Against the Dark Arts OWL too, though, I bet?" said Michael Corner, who was watching her closely.  
    "Of course I do," said Hermione at once. "But more than that, I want to be properly trained in defence because . . . because . . ." she took a great breath and finished, "because Lord Voldemort is back." Taunna inhaled sharply.  
    The reaction was immediate and predictable. Cho's friend shrieked and slopped Butterbeer down herself; Terry Boot gave a kind of involuntary twitch; Padma Patil shuddered, and Neville gave an odd yelp that he managed to turn into a cough. All of them, however, looked fixedly, even eagerly, at Harry.  
    "Well . . . that's the plan, anyway," said Hermione. "If you want to join us, we need to decide how we're going to -"  
    "Where's the proof You-Know-Who's back?" said the blond Hufflepuff player in a rather aggressive voice.  
    "Well, Dumbledore believes it - " Hermione began.  
    "You mean, Dumbledore believes him," said the blond boy, nodding at Harry.  
   "Cedric Diggory is dead,isn't he?" Taunna snapped."More witches and wizards disappear everyday."  
    "Look," said Hermione, intervening swiftly, "that's really not what this meeting was supposed to be about - "  
    "It's OK, Hermione," said Harry.  
   "What makes me say You-Know-Who's back?" he asked, looking Zacharias Smith straight in the face. "I saw him. But Dumbledore told the whole school what happened last year, and if you didn't believe him, you won't believe me, and I'm not wasting an afternoon trying to convince anyone."  
    The whole group seemed to have held its breath while Harry spoke.  
    Zacharias said dismissively, "All Dumbledore told us last year was that Cedric Diggory got killed by You-Know-Who and that you brought Diggory's body back to Hogwarts. He didn't give us details, he didn't tell us exactly how Diggory got murdered, I think we'd all like to know - "  
    "If you've come to hear exactly what it looks like when Voldemort murders someone I can't help you," Harry said. "I don't want to talk about Cedric Diggory, all right? So if that's what you're here for, you might as well clear out."  
    
    "So," said Hermione, her voice very high-pitched again. "So . . . like I was saying . . . if you want to learn some defence, then we need to work out how we're going to do it, how often we're going to meet and where we're going to - "  
    "Is it true," interrupted the girl with the long plait down her back, looking at Harry, "that you can produce a Patronus?"  
    There was a murmur of interest around the group at this.  
    "Yeah," said Harry slightly defensively.  
    "A corporeal Patronus?"  
     "Er - you don't know Madam Bones, do you?" he asked.  
    The girl smiled.  
    "She's my auntie," she said. "I'm Susan Bones. She told me about your hearing. So - is it really true? You make a stag Patronus?"  
    "Yes," said Harry.  
    "Blimey, Harry!" said Lee, looking deeply impressed. "I never knew that!"  
    "Mum told Ron not to spread it around," said Fred, grinning at Harry. "She said you got enough attention as it was."  
    "She's not wrong," mumbled Harry, and a couple of people laughed.  
    The veiled witch sitting alone shifted very slightly in her seat.  
    "And did you kill a Basilisk with that sword in Dumbledore's office?" demanded Terry Boot. "That's what one of the portraits on the wall told me when I was in there last year . . ."  
    "Yes,he did. He saved Ginny's life and all the other muggle borns."Taunna said.  
    Justin Finch-Fletchley whistled; the Creevey brothers exchanged awestruck looks and Lavender Brown said "Wow!" softly.   
    "And in our first year," said Neville to the group at large, "he saved that Philological Stone - "  
    "Philosopher's," hissed Hermione.  
    "Yes, that - from You-Know-Who," finished Neville.  
    Hannah Abbotts eyes were as round as Galleons.  
    "And that's not to mention," said Taunna "all the tasks he had to get through in the Triwizard Tournament last year - getting past dragons and merpeople and Acromantula and things . . ."  
    There was a murmur of impressed agreement around the table.  
"Look," he said, and everyone fell silent at once, "I . . . I don't want to sound like I'm trying to be modest or anything, but . . . I had a lot of help with all that stuff . . ."  
    "Not with the dragon, you didn't," said Michael Corner at once. "That was a seriously cool bit of flying . . ."  
    "Yeah, well - " said Harry.  
    "And nobody helped you get rid OF those Dementors this summer," said Susan Bones.  
    "No," said Harry, "no, OK, I know I did bits of it without help, but the point I'm trying to make is - "  
    "Are you trying to weasel out of showing us any of this stuff?" said Zacharias Smith. Taunna narrowed her eyes at him.  
    "Here's an idea," said Ron loudly, before Harry could speak, "why don't you shut your mouth?"  
    Perhaps the word 'weasel' had affected Ron particularly strongly. In any case, he was now looking at Zacharias as though he would like nothing better than to thump him. Zacharias flushed.  
    "Well, we've all turned up to learn from him and now he's telling us he can't really do any of it," he said.  
    "That's not what he said," snarled Fred.  
    "Would you like us to clean out you: ears for you?" enquired George, pulling a long and lethal-looking metal instrument from inside one of the Zonko's bags.  
    "Or any part of your body, really, we're not fussy where we stick this," said Fred. Taunna suddenly got a serious fit of the giggles.  
    "Yes, well," said Hermione hastily, "moving on . . . the point is, are we agreed we want to take lessons from Harry?"  
    There was a murmur of general agreement. Zacharias folded his arms and said nothing, though perhaps this was because he was too busy keeping an eye on the instrument in Fred's hand.  
    "Right," said Hermione, looking relieved that something had at last been settled. "Well, then, the next question is how often we do it. I really don't think there's any point in meeting less than once a week - "  
    "Hang on," said Angelina, "we need to make sure this doesn't clash with our Quidditch practice."  
    "No," said Cho, "nor with ours."  
    "Nor ours," added Zacharias Smith.  
    "I'm sure we can find a night that suits everyone,"said Hermione, slightly impatiently, "but you know, this is rather important, we're talking about learning to defend ourselves against V-Voldemort's Death Eaters - "

    "Well said!" barked Ernie Macmillan, who had been expected to speak long before this. "Personally, I think this is really important, possibly more important than anything else we'll do this year, even with our OWLs coming up!"  
    He looked around impressively, as though waiting for people to cry "Surely not!" When nobody spoke, he went on, "I, personally, am at a loss to see why the Ministry has foisted such a useless teacher on us at this critical period. Obviously, they are in denial about the return of You-Know-Who, but to give us a teacher who is trying to actively prevent us from using defensive spells - "  
    "We think the reason Umbridge doesn't want us trained in Defence Against the Dark Arts," said Hermione, "is that she's got some . . . some mad idea that Dumbledore could use the students in the school as a kind of private army. She thinks he'd mobilise us against the Ministry"  
    Nearly everybody looked stunned at this news; everybody except Luna Lovegood, who piped up,"'Well, that makes sense. After all, Cornelius Fudge has got his own private army"  
    "What?" said Harry, completely thrown by this unexpected piece of information.  
    "Yes, he's got an army of Heliopaths," said Luna solemnly. Taunna resisted the urge to laugh again.  
    "No, he hasn't," snapped Hermione.  
    "Yes, he has," said Luna.  
    "What are Heliopaths?" asked Neville, looking blank.  
    "They're spirits of fire," said Luna, her protuberant eyes widening so that she looked madder than ever, "great tall flaming creatures that gallop across the ground burning everything in front of - "  
    "They don't exist, Neville," said Hermione tartly.  
    "Oh, yes, they do!" said Luna angrily.  
    "I'm sorry, but where's the proof of that?" snapped Hermione.  
    "There are plenty of eye-witness accounts. Just because you're so narrow-minded you need to have everything shoved under your nose before you - '  
    "Hem, hem," said Ginny, in such a good imitation of Professor Umbridge that several people looked around in alarm and then laughed. "Weren't we trying to decide how often we're going to meet and have defence lessons?"  
    "Yes," said Hermione at once, "yes, we were, you're right, Ginny."  
    "Well, once a week sounds cool," said Lee Jordan.  
    "As long as - " began Angelina.  
    "Yes, yes, we know about the Quidditch,"Taunna cut her off.  
 "Well, the other thing to decide is where we're going to meet . . ."Hermione said.  
    This was rather more difficult; the whole group fell silent.  
    "Library?" suggested Katie Bell after a few moments.  
    "I can't see Madam Pince being too chuffed with us doing jinxes in the library," said Harry.  
    "Maybe an unused classroom?"Taunna suggested.  
    "Yeah," said Ron, "McGonagall might let us have hers, she did when Harry was practicing for the Tri-wizard."  
  "Right, well, we'll try to find somewhere," said Hermione. "We'll send a message round to everybody when we've got a time and a place for the first meeting."  
    She rummaged in her bag and produced parchment and a quill, then hesitated, rather as though she was steeling herself to say something.  
    "I - I think everybody should write their name down, just so we know who was here. But I also think," she took a deep breath, "that we all ought to agree not to shout about what we're doing. So if you sign, you're agreeing not to tell Umbridge or anybody else what we're up to."  
    Fred reached out for the parchment and cheerfully wrote his signature.  
    "Er . . ." said Zacharias slowly, not taking the parchment that George was trying to pass to him, "well . . . I'm sure Ernie will tell me when the meeting is."  
    But Ernie was looking rather hesitant about signing, too. Hermione raised her eyebrows at him.  
    "I - well, we are prefects," Ernie burst out. "And if this list was found . . . well, I mean to say . . . you said yourself, if Umbridge  _finds out_ -"  
    "You just said this group was the most important thing you'd do this year," Harry reminded him.  
    "I - yes," said Ernie, "yes, I do believe that, it's just - "  
    "Ernie, do you really think I'd leave that list lying around?" said Hermione testily.  
    "No. No, of course not," said Ernie, looking slightly less anxious. "I - yes, of course I'll sign."  
    Nobody raised objections after Ernie. Taunna signed last,before passing the list back to Hermione.  
    "Well, time's ticking on," said Fred briskly, getting to his feet. "George, Lee and I have got items of a sensitive nature to purchase, we'll be seeing you all later."  
    In twos and threes the rest of the group took their leave, too.  
     
    "Well, I think that went quite well," said Hermione happily, as she, Harry,Taunna and Ron walked out of the Hog's Head into the bright sunlight a few moments later. Harry and Ron were clutching their bottles of Butterbeer.  
    "That Zacharias bloke's a wart," said Ron, who was glowering after the figure of Smith, just discernible in the distance.  
    "I don't like him much, either," admitted Hermione, "but he overheard me talking to Ernie and Hannah at the Hufflepuff table and he seemed really interested in coming, so what could I say? But the more people the better really - I mean, Michael Corner and his friends wouldn't have come if he hadn't been going out with Ginny - "  
    Ron, who had been draining the last few drops from his Butterbeer bottle, gagged and sprayed Butterbeer down his front.  
    "He's WHAT?" spluttered Ron, outraged, his ears now resembling curls of raw beef. "She's going out with - my sister's going - what d'you mean, Michael Corner?"  
    "Well, that's why he and his friends came, I think - well, they're obviously interested in learning defence, but if Ginny hadn't told Michael what was going on - "  
    "When did this - when did she -?"  
    "They met at the Yule Ball and got together at the end of last year," said Hermione composedly. They had turned into the High Street and she paused outside Scrivenshaft's Quill Shop, where there was a handsome display of pheasant feather quills in the window.. "Hmm . . . I could do with a new quill." Taunna chuckled softly.  
    After Hermione had purchased her quill, they left the shop, Taunna nearly jumping in surprise when Harry suddenly laced his fingers in hers.  
 _Were they holding hands right now?_


	13. Trelawney

Knowing they were doing something to resist Umbridge and the Ministry and that he was a key part of the rebellion, gave them a feeling of immense satisfaction.   
      
    A large sign had been affixed to the Gryffindor notice board, so large it covered everything else on it - the lists of secondhand spellbooks for sale, the regular reminders of school rules from Argus Filch, the Quidditch team training timetable, the offers to barter certain Chocolate Frog Cards for others, the Weasleys' latest advertisement for testers, the dates of the Hogsmeade weekends and the lost and found notices. The new sign was printed in large black letters and there was a highly official-looking seal at the bottom beside a neat and curly signature.  
BY ORDER OF THE HIGH INQUISITOR OF HOGWARTS  
All student organisations, societies, teams, groups and clubs are  
henceforth disbanded.  
An organisation, society, team, group or club is hereby defined   
as a regular meeting of three or more students.  
Permission to re-form may be sought from the High Inquisitor  
(Professor Umbridge).  
No student organisation, society, team, group or club may exist  
without the knowledge and approval of the High Inquisitor.  
  
Any student found to have formed, or to belong to, an organisation,   
society, team, group or club that has not been approved by  
 the High Inquisitor will be expelled.  
The above is in accordance with Educational Decree  
Number Twenty-four.  
Signed: Dolores Jane Umbridge, High Inquisitor  
Taunna wanted to curse out loud.  
    "Does this mean they're going to shut down the Gobstones Club?" one of them asked his friend.  
    "I reckon you'll be OK with Gobstones," Ron said darkly, making the second-year jump."I don't think we're going to be as lucky, though, do you?" he asked Harry as the second-years hurried away.  
   "This isn't a coincidence," he said, his hands forming fists. "She knows."  
    "She can't," said Ron at once.  
    "There were people listening in that pub. And let's face it, we don't know how many of the people who turned up we can trust . . . any of them could have run off and told Umbridge . . ."  
      
    It seemed, however, that Taunna was not the only person in Divination who was in a temper. Professor Trelawney slammed a copy of the Oracle down on the table between Harry and Ron and swept away, her lips pursed; she threw the next copy of the Oracle at Seamus and Dean, narrowly avoiding Seamus's head, and thrust the final one into Neville's chest with such force that he slipped off his pouffe. Taunna picked it up gingerly,  looking up at Neville.  
    "Well, carry on!" said Professor Trelawney loudly, her voice high-pitched and somewhat hysterical, "you know what to do! Or am I such a sub-standard teacher that you have never learned how to open a book?"  
    The class stared perplexedly at her, then at each other. Harry, however, thought he knew what was the matter. As Professor Trelawney flounced back to the high teacher's chair, her magnified eyes full of angry tears, he leaned his head closer to Ron's and muttered, "I think she's got the results of her inspection back."  
    "Professor?" said Parvati Patil in a hushed voice (she and Lavender had always rather admired Professor Trelawney). "Professor, is there anything - er - wrong?"  
    "Wrong!" cried Professor Trelawney in a voice throbbing with emotion. "Certainly not! I have been insulted, certainly . . . insinuations have been made against me . . . unfounded accusations levelled . . . but no, there is nothing wrong, certainly not!"  
    She took a great shuddering breath and looked away from Parvati, angry tears spilling from under her glasses.  
    "I say nothing," she choked, "of sixteen years of devoted service . . . it has passed, apparently, unnoticed . . . but I shall not be insulted, no, I shall not!"  
    "But, Professor, who's insulting you?" asked Parvati timidly.  
    "The Establishment!" said Professor Trelawney, in a deep, dramatic, wavering voice. "Yes, those with eyes too clouded by the mundane to See as I See, to Know as I Know . . . of course, we Seers have always been feared, always persecuted . . . it is - alas - 'our fate."  
    She gulped, dabbed at her wet cheeks with the end of her shawl, then she pulled a small embroidered handkerchief from her sleeve, and blew her nose very hard with a sound like Peeves blowing a raspberry.  
    Ron sniggered. Lavender shot him a disgusted look.  
    "Professor," said Parvati, "do you mean . . . is it something Professor Umbridge - ?"  
    "Do not speak to me about that woman!" cried Professor Trelawney leaping to her feet, her beads rattling and her spectacles flashing. "Kindly continue with your work!"  
    And she spent the rest of the lesson striding among them, tears still leaking from behind her glasses, muttering what sounded like threats under her breath. Taunna stared at the book.  
    ". . . may well choose to leave . . . the indignity of it . . . on probation . . . we shall see . . . how she dares . . ."  
    "You and Umbridge have got something in common," Harry told Taunna quietly as they entered Defence Against the Dark Arts. "She obviously reckons Trelawney's an old fraud, too . . . looks like she's put her on probation."  
    Umbridge entered the room as he spoke, wearing her black velvet bow and an expression of great smugness.  
    "Good afternoon, class." 


	14. The Odd

 Hermione soon devised a very clever method of communicating the time and date of the next meeting to all the members in case they needed to change it at short notice, because it would look suspicious if people from different Houses were seen crossing the Great Hall to talk to each other too often. She gave each of the members of the DA a fake Galleon (Ron became very excited when he first saw the basket and was convinced she was actually giving out gold).

    "You see the numerals around the edge of the coins?" Hermione said, holding one up for examination at the end of their fourth meeting. The coin  gleamed fat and yellow in the light from the torches. "On real Galleons that's just a serial number referring to the goblin who cast the coin. On these fake coins, though, the numbers will change to reflect the time and date of the next meeting. The coins will grow hot when the date changes, so if you're carrying them in a pocket you'll be able to feel them. We take one each, and when Harry sets the date of the next meeting he'll change the numbers on his coin, and because I've put a Protean Charm on them, they'll all change to mimic his."

    A blank silence greeted Hermione's words. She looked around at all the faces upturned to her, rather disconcerted.

    "Well - I thought it was a good idea," she said uncertainly, "I mean, even if Umbridge asked us to turn out our pockets, there's nothing fishy about carrying a Galleon, is there? But . . . well, if you don't want to use them - "

    "You can do a Protean Charm?" said Terry Boot

    "Yes," said Hermione.

    "But that's . . . that's NEWT standard." Taunna said.

    "Oh," said Hermione, trying to look modest. "Oh . . . well . . . yes, I suppose it is."

    "How come you're not in Ravenclaw?" Terry demanded, staring at Hermione with something close to wonder. "With brains like yours?"

    "Well, the Sorting Hat did seriously consider putting me in Ravenclaw during my Sorting," said Hermione brightly, "but it decided on Gryffindor in the end. So, does that mean we're using the Galleons?"

    There was a murmur of assent and everybody moved forwards to collect one from the basket. 

    "You know what these remind me of?" Taunna began.

    "No, what's that?" Hermione said.

    "The Death Eaters' scars. Voldemort touches one of them, and all their scars burn, and w-they know they've got to join him." Taunna said.

    "Well . . . yes," said Hermione quietly, "that is where I got the idea . . . but you'll notice I decided to engrave the date on bits of metal rather than on our members' skin."

    "Yeah . . . I prefer your way," said Harry , grinning, as he slipped his; Galleon into his pocket. "I suppose the only danger with these is that we might accidentally spend them."

    "Fat chance," said Ron, who was examining his own fake Galleon with a slightly mournful air, "I haven't got any real Galleons to confuse it with."

   

    October extinguished itself in a rush of howling winds and driving rain and November arrived, cold as frozen iron, with hard frosts every morning and icy draughts that bit at exposed hands and faces. The skies and the ceiling of the Great Hall turned a pale, pearly grey, the mountains around Hogwarts were snowcapped, and the temperature in the castle dropped so low that many students wore their thick protective dragonskin gloves in the corridors between lessons.

   

    "Where have you been?" said Hermione anxiously, springing up.

    'Walking,' Ron mumbled. He was still wearing his Quidditch things.

    "You look frozen," said Taunna. "Come and sit down!" 

      "I'm sorry," Ron mumbled, looking at his feet.

    "What for?" said Harry.

    "For thinking I can play Quidditch," said Ron. "I'm going to resign first thing tomorrow."

    "If you resign," said Harry  testily, "there'll only be three players left on the team." And when Ron looked puzzled, he said, "I've been given a lifetime ban. So've Fred and George."

    "What?" Ron yelped.

    Hermione told him the full story; Taunna swallowed as Hermione told the story. When she had finished, Ron looked more anguished than ever.

    "This is all my fault - "

    "You didn't make me punch Malfoy," said Harry angrily.

    "-  if I wasn't so terrible at Quidditch - "

    "- it's got nothing to do with that."

   "- it was that song that wound me up -"

   " - it would've wound anyone up."

    Hermione got up and walked to the window, away from the argument, watching the snow swirling down against the pane.

    'Look, drop it, will you!'Harry  burst out. "It's bad enough, without you blaming yourself for everything!" Taunna flinched.

    Ron said nothing but sat gazing miserably at the damp hem of his robes. After a while he said in a dull voice, 'This is the worst I've ever felt in my life."

    "Join the club," said Harry bitterly.

    "Well," said Hermione, her voice trembling slightly. "I can think of one thing that might cheer you both up."

    "Oh yeah?" said Harry sceptically.

    "Yeah," said Hermione, turning away from the pitch-black, snow-flecked window, a broad smiled  spreading across her face. "Hagrid's back."


	15. Hagrid's Return

Taunna watched Harry sprint up to the boys' dormitories to fetch the Invisibility Cloak and the Marauder's Map from his trunk; he was so quick that he and Ron were ready to leave at least five minutes before Hermione or Taunna who hurried back down from the girls' dormitories.  
    They crept through the portrait hole and covered themselves hastily in the Cloak - Ron had grown so much he now needed to crouch to prevent his feet showing -then, moving slowly and cautiously, they proceeded down the many stairs, pausing to check on the map for signs of Filch or Mrs Morris. They were lucky; they saw nobody but Nearly Headless Nick, who was gliding along absent-mindedly humming something that sounded horribly like 'Weasley is our King'. They crept across the Entrance Hall and out into the silent, snowy grounds. With a great leap of her heart, Taunna saw little golden squares of light ahead and smoke coiling up from Hagrid's chimney. She set off at a quick march, the other three jostling and bumping along beside her. They crunched excitedly through the thickening snow until at last, they reached the wooden front door. When Harry raised his fist and knocked three times, a dog started barking frantically inside.  
    "Hagrid, it's us!" Harry called through the keyhole.  
    "Shoulda known!" said a gruff voice.  
    They beamed at each other under the Cloak; they could tell by Hagrid's voice that he was pleased. "Bin home three seconds . . . out the way, Fang . . . out the way, yeh dozy dog . . ."  
    The bolt was drawn back, the door creaked open and Hagrid's head appeared in the gap.  
    Hermione screamed. Taunna's eyes dilated.  
    "Merlin's beard, keep it down!" said Hagrid hastily, staring wildly over their heads. "Under that Cloak, are yeh? Well, get in, get in!"  
    "I'm sorry!" Hermione gasped, as the four of them squeezed past Hagrid into the house and pulled the Cloak off themselves so he could see them. "I just - oh, Hagrid!"  
    "It's nuthin', it's nuthin'!" said Hagrid hastily, shutting the door behind them and hurrying to close all the curtains, but Hermione continued to gaze up at him in horror.  
    Hagrid's hair was matted with congealed blood and his left eye had been reduced to a puffy slit amid a mass of purple and black bruising. There were many cuts on his face and hands, some of them still bleeding, and he was moving gingerly, which made Taunna suspect broken ribs. It was obvious that he had only just got home: a thick black travelling cloak lay over the back of a chair and a haversack large enough to carry several small children leant against the wall inside the door. Hagrid himself, twice the size of a normal man, was now limping over to the fire and placing a copper kettle over it.  
    "What happened to you?' Harry demanded while Fang danced around them all, trying to lick their faces.  
    "Told yeh, nuthin,"' said Hagrid firmly. "Want a cuppa?"  
    "Come off it," said Ron, "you're in a right state!"  
    "I'm tellin' yeh, I'm fine, said Hagrid, straightening up and turning to beam at them all, but wincing. "Blimey, it's good ter see yeh four again - had good summers, did yeh?"  
    "Hagrid, you've been attacked!" Taunna declared, looking up at him."Who wants to discuss summer when you look like you just crawled out from under a bus!"  
    "Fer the las' time, it's nuthin'!" said Hagrid firmly.  
    "Would you say it was nothing if one of us turned up with a pound of mincemeat instead of a face?" Ron demanded.  
    "You should go see Madam Pomfrey, Hagrid," said Hermione anxiously, "some of those cuts look nasty."  
    "I'm dealin' with it, all righ?" said Hagrid repressively.  
    He walked across to the enormous wooden table that stood in the middle of his cabin and twitched aside a tea towel that had been lying on it. Underneath was a raw, bloody, green-tinged steak slightly larger than the average car tire.  
    '"You aren't going to eat that, are you, Hagrid?" Taunna asked nervously.  "It looks poisonous."  
    "It's s'posed ter look like that, it's dragon meat," overHagrid said.  
  
"An' I didn' get it ter eat."  
    He picked up the steak and slapped it on the left side of his face. Greenish blood trickled down into his beard as he gave a soft moan of satisfaction.  
    "Tha's better. It helps with the stingin', yeh know."  
    "So, are you going to tell us what's happened to you?" Harry asked.  
    "Can't, Harry. Top secret. More'n me job's worth ter tell yeh that."  
    "Did the giants beat you up, Hagrid?" asked Hermione quietly.  
    Hagrid's fingers slipped on the dragon steak and it slid squelchy on to his chest.  
    "Giants?" said Hagrid, catching the steak before it reached his belt and slapping it back over his face, "who said anythin' abou' giants? Who yeh bin talkin' to? Who's told yeh what I've - who's said I've bin - eh?"  
    "We guessed," Taunna input.  
    "Oh, yeh did did yeh?" said Hagrid, surveying her sternly with the eye that was not hidden by the steak.  
    "It was kind of...obvious," said Ron. Harry nodded.  
    Hagrid glared at them, then snorted, threw the steak back on to the table and strode over to the kettle, which was now whistling.  
    "Never known kids like you fer knowin' more'n yeh oughta," he muttered, splashing boiling water into four of his bucket-shaped mugs. "An' I'm not complimentin' yeh, neither. Nosy, some'd call it. Interferin'."  
    But his beard twitched.  
    "So you have been to look for giants," said Harry, grinning as he sat down at the table.  
    Hagrid set tea in front of each of them, sat down, picked up his steak again and slapped it back over his face. Taunna watched, waiting for an affirmation.  
    "Yeah, all righ'," he grunted, "I have."  
    "And you found them?" said Hermione in a hushed voice.  
    "Well, they're not that difficult ter find, ter be honest," said Hagrid. "Pretty big, see."  
    "Where are they?"Taunna asked.  
    "Mountains," said Hagrid unhelpfully.  
    "So why don't Muggles - ?"Taunna began  
    "They do," said Hagrid darkly. "On'y their deaths are always put down ter mountaineerin' accidents, aren' they?"  
    He adjusted the steak a little so that it covered the worst of the bruising. Taunna nodded.  
    "Come on, Hagrid, tell us what you've been up to!" said Ron. "Tell us about being attacked by the giants and Harry can tell you about being attacked by the Dementors- " Taunna glared at Ron.  
    Hagrid choked in his mug and dropped his steak at the same time; a large quantity of spit, tea and dragon blood was sprayed over the table as Hagrid coughed and spluttered and the steak slid, with a soft splat, onto the floor.  
    "Whadda yeh mean, attacked by Dementors?" growled Hagrid.  
    "Didn't you know?" Hermione asked him, wide-eyed.  
    "I don' know any thin' that's bin happenin' since I left. I was on a secret mission, wasn' I? didn' wan' owls followin' me all over the place- ruddy Dementors! Yeh're not serious?"  
    "Yeah, I am, they turned up in Little Whinging and attacked my cousin and me, and then the Ministry of Magic expelled me - "  
    "WHAT?"  
    "-and I had to go to a hearing and everything, but tell us about the giants first."  
    "You were expelled!"Hagrid boomed.  
    "Tell us about your summer and I'll tell you about mine."  
    Hagrid glared at him through his one open eye. Harry looked right back, an expression of innocent determination on his face. Taunna smiled.  
At least she wouldn't have to talk about the Malfoys.


	16. The Giants

'"Oh, all righ'," Hagrid said in a resigned voice.  
    He bent down and tugged the dragon steak out of Fang's mouth.  
    "Oh, Hagrid, don't, it's not hygien-" Taunna began, but Hagrid had already slapped the meat back over his swollen eye. She shuddered.  
    He took another gulp of tea, then said, "Well, we set off righ' after term ended - "  
    "Madame Maxime went with you, then?" Hermione interjected.  
    "Yeah, tha's righ'," said Hagrid, and a softened expression appeared on the few inches of face that were not obscured by beard or green steak. "Yeah, it was jus' the pair of us. An' I'll tell yen this, she's not afraid of roughin' it, Olympe. Yeh know, she's a fine, well-dressed woman, an' knowin' where we was goin' I wondered 'ow she'd feel abou' clamberin' over boulders an' sleepin' in caves an' tha', bu' she never complained once."  
    "You knew where you were going?" Harry repeated. "You knew where the giants were?"  
    "Well, Dumbledore knew, an' he told us," said Hagrid.  
    "Are they hidden?" asked Ron. "Is it a secret, where they are?"  
    "Not really," said Hagrid, shaking his shaggy head. "It's jus' that mos' wizards aren' bothered where they are, 's'long as it's a good long way away. But where they are's very difficult ter get ter, fer humans anyway, so we needed Dumbledore's instructions. Took us abou' a month ter get there - "  
    "A month?" Asked Taunna."But - why couldn't you just grab a Portkey or something?"  
    There was an odd expression in Hagrid's unobscured eye as he surveyed Ron; it was almost pitying.  
    'We're bein' watched." he said gruffly.  
    "What d'you mean?"Ron interjected.  
    "Yeh don' understand," said Hagrid. "The Ministry's keepin' an eye on Dumbledore an' anyone they reckon's in league with 'im, an' - "  
    "We know about that," said Harry quickly, keen to hear the rest of Hagrid's story, "we know about the Ministry watching Dumbledore - "  
    "So you couldn't use magic to get there?" asked Ron, looking thunderstruck, "you had to act like Muggles all the way?"  
    "Well, not exactly all the way" said Hagrid cagily. '"We jus' had ter be careful, 'cause Olympe an' me, we stick out a bit -"  
    Ron made a stifled noise somewhere between a snort and a sniff and hastily took a gulp of tea. Taunna tried not to laugh herself. 'Stick out Like a sore thumb' she thought.  
    "- so we're not hard ter follow. We was pretendin' we was goin' on holiday together, so we got inter France an' we made like we was headin' fer where Olympe's school is, 'cause we knew we was bein' tailed by someone from the Ministry. We had to go slow, 'cause I'm not really s'posed ter use magic an' we knew the Mimstry'd be lookin' fer a reason ter run us in. But we managed ter give the berk tailin' us the slip round abou' Dee-John - "  
    "Ooooh, Dijon?" said Hermione excitedly. "I've been there on holiday, did you see - ?"  
    She fell silent at the look on Ron's face.  
  "We chanced a bit o' magic after that an' it wasn' a bad journey. Ran inter a couple o' mad trolls on the Polish border an' I had a sligh' disagreement with a vampire in a pub in Minsk, bu' apart from tha' couldn't'a bin smoother. An' then we reached the place, an' we started trekkin' up through the mountains, lookin' fer signs of 'em...We had ter lay off the magic once we got near 'em. Partly 'cause they don' like wizards an' we didn' want ter put their backs up too soon, an' partly 'cause Dumbledore had warned us You-Know-Who was bound ter be after the giants an' all. Said it was odds on he'd sent a messenger off ter them already. Told us ter be verv careful of drawin' attention ter ourselves as we got nearer in case there was Death Eaters around."  
    Hagrid paused for a long draught of tea.  
    "Go on!" Harry urged.  
    "Found 'em," said Hagrid baldly. "Went over a ridge one nigh' an' there they was, spread ou' underneath us. Little fires burnin' below an' huge shadows . . . it was like watchin' bits o' the mountain movin'."  
    "How big are they?' asked Ron in a hushed voice.  
    "Bout twenty feet," said Hagrid casually. "Some o' the bigger ones mighta bin twenty-five."  
    "And how many were there?" asked Taunna.  
    "I reckon abou' seventy or eighty," said Hagrid.  
    "Is that all?" said Hermione.  
    "Yep,' said Hagrid sadly, "eighty left, an' there was loads once, musta bin a hundred diff'rent tribes from all over the world. Bu' they've bin dyin' out fer ages. Wizards killed a few, o' course, bu' mostly they killed each other, an' now they're dyin' out faster than ever. They're not made ter live bunched up together like tha'. Dumbledore says it's our fault, it was the wizards who forced 'em to go an' made 'em live a good long way from us an' they had no choice bu' ter stick together fer their own protection."  
    'So," said Harry, "you saw them and then what?"  
    "Well, we waited till morning, didn' want ter go sneakin' up on 'em in the dark, fer our own safety" said Hagrid. "Bout three in the mornin' they fell asleep jus' where they was sittin'. We didn' dare sleep. Fer one thing, we wanted ter make sure none of 'em woke up an' came up where we were, an' fer another, the snorin' was unbelievable. Caused an avalanche near mornin'. Anyway once it was light we wen' down ter see 'em."  
    "Just like that?" said Ron, looking awestruck. "You just walked right into a giant camp?"  
    "Well, Dumbledore'd told us how ter do it," said Hagrid. '"Give the Gurg gifts, show some respect, yeh know."  
    "Give the what gifts?" asked Harry.  
    "Oh, the Gurg - means the chief," Hagrid explained.  
    "How could you tell which one was the Gurg?" asked Ron.  
    Hagrid grunted in amusement. Taunna guessed it was obvious.  
  
    "No problem," he said. "He was the biggest, the ugliest and the laziest. Sittin' there waitin' ter be brought food by the others. Dead goats an' such like. Name o' Karkus. I'd put him at twenty-two, twenty-three feet an' the weight o' a couple o' bull elephants. Skin like rhino hide an' all."  
    "And you just walked up to him?" said Hermione breathlessly.  
    "Well . . . down ter him, where he was lyin' in the valley. They was in this dip between four pretty high mountains, see, beside a mountain lake, an' Karkus was lyin' by the lake roarin' at the others ter feed him an' his wife. Olympe an' I went down the mountainside -"  
    "But didn't they try and kill you when they saw you?" asked Taunna.  
    "It was def'nitely on some o' their minds," said Hagrid, shrugging, "but we did what Dumbledore told us ter do, which was ter hold our gift up high an' keep our eyes on the Gurg an' ignore the others. So tha's what we did. An' the rest of 'em went quiet an' watched us pass an' we got right up ter Karkuss leet an we bowed an' put our present down in front o' him."  
    "What do you give a giant?" asked Ron eagerly. "Food?"  
    "Nah, he can get food all righ' fer himself," said Hagrid. "We took him magic. Giants like magic, jus' don' like us usin' it against 'em. Anyway, that firs' day we gave 'im a branch o' Gubraithian fire."  
    Hermione said, "Wow!" softly, but Harry and Ron both frowned in puzzlement.  
    "A branch of - ?"Ron was confused.  
    "Everlasting fire," Taunna cut in. '"ou ought to know that by now. Professor Flitwick's mentioned it at least twice in class!"  
    "Well, anyway," said Hagrid quickly, intervening before Ron could answer back, "Dumbledore'd bewitched this branch to burn fer evermore, which isn' somethin' any wizard could do, an' so I lies it down in the snow by Karkuss feet and says, 'A gift to the Gurg of the giants from Albus Dumbledore, who sends his respectful greetings."'  
    "And what did Karkus say?" asked Harry eagerly.  
    "Nothin'," said Hagrid. "Didn' speak English."  
    "You're kidding!" Taunna was astonished.  
    "Didn' matter," said Hagrid imperturbably, "Dumbledore had warned us tha' migh' happen. Karkus knew enough to yell fer a couple o' giants who knew our lingo an' they translated fer us."  
    "And did he like the present?" asked Ron.  
    "Oh, yeah, it went down a storm once they understood what it was," said Hagrid, turning his dragon steak over to press the cooler side to his swollen eye. "Very pleased. So then I said, 'Albus Dumbledore asks the Gurg to speak with his messenger when he returns tomorrow with another gift."  
    "Why couldn't you speak to them that day?" asked Hermione.  
    "Dumbledore wanted us ter take it very slow," said Hagrid. "Let 'em see we kept our promises. We'll come back tomorrow with another present, an' then we do come back with another present - gives a good impression, see? An' gives them time ter test out the firs' present an' iind out it's a good one, an' get 'em eager fer more. In any case, giants like Karkus - overload 'em with information an' they'll kill yeh jus' to simplify things. So we bowed outta the way an' went off an' found ourselves a nice little cave ter spend that night in an' the followin' mornin' we went back an' this time we found Karkus sittin' up waitin' fer us lookin' all eager."  
    "And you talked to him?"Taunna asked.  
    "Oh yeah. Firs' we presented him with a nice battle helmet - 'goblin-made an' indestructible, yeh know - an' then we sat down an' we talked."  
    "What did he say?"Harry asked.  
    "Not much," said Hagrid. "Listened mostly. Bu' there were good signs. He'd heard o' Dumbledore, heard he'd argued against the killin' o' the last giants in Britain. Karkus seemed ter be quite int'rested in what Dumbledore had ter say. An' a few o' the others, 'specially the ones who had some English, they gathered round an' listened too. We were hopeful when we left that day. Promised ter come back next mornin' with another present. Bu' that night it all wen' wrong." Hagrid said,ominously. 


	17. The Unexpected Turn Of Events

"What d'you mean?" Ron asked.  
   "Well, like I say, they're not meant ter live together, giants," said Hagrid sadly. "Not in big groups like that. They can' help themselves, they half kill each other every few weeks. The men fight each other an' the women fight each other; the remnants of the old tribes fight each other, an' that's even without squabbles over food an' the best fires an' sleepin' spots. Yeh'd think, seein' as how their whole race is abou' finished, they'd lay off each other, bu'..."  
    Hagrid sighed deeply.  
    "That night a fight broke out, we saw it from the mouth of our cave, lookin' down on the valley. Went on fer hours, yeh wouldn' believe the noise. An' when the sun came up the snow was scarlet an' his head was lyin' at the bottom o' the lake."  
    "Whose head?" gasped Hermione.  
    "Karkus's," said Hagrid heavily. "There was a new Gurg, Golgomath." He sighed deeply. "Well, we hadn' bargained on a new Gurg two days after we'd made friendly contact with the firs' one, an' we had a funny feelin' Golgomath wouldn' be so keen ter listen to us, bu' we had ter try."  
    "You went to speak to him?" asked Taunna  incredulously. "After you'd watched him rip off another giant's head?"  
    "Course we did," said Hagrid, "we hadn' gone all that way ter give up after two days! We wen' down with the next present we'd meant ter give ter Karkus. I knew it was no good before I'd opened me mouth. He was sitting there wearin' Karkus's helmet, leerin' at us as we got nearer. He's massive, one o' the biggest ones there. Black hair an' matchin' teeth an' a necklace o' bones. Human-lookin' bones, some of 'em. Well, I gave it a go-held out a great roll o' dragon skin - an' said, 'A gift fer the Gurg of the giants' Nex' thing I knew, I was hangin' upside-down in the air by me feet, two of his mates had grabbed me."  
    Hermione clapped her hands to her mouth. Taunna's eyes dilated.  
    "How did you get out of that!" asked Harry.  
    "Wouldn'ta done if Olympe hadn' bin there," said Hagrid. "She pulled out her wand an' did some o' the fastes' spellwork I've ever seen. Ruddy marvellous. Hit the two holdin' me right in the eyes with Conjunctivitus Curses an' they dropped me straightaway - 'bu' we were in trouble then, 'cause we'd used magic against 'em, an' that's what giants hate abou' wizards. We had ter leg it an' we knew there was no way we was going ter be able ter march inter the camp again."  
    "Oh,Hagrid." Taunna exhaled, quietly.  
    "So, how come it's taken you so long to get home if you were only there for three days?" asked Hermione.  
    "We didn' leave after three days!" said Hagrid, looking outraged. "Dumbledore was relyin' on us!"  
    "But you've just said there was no way you could go back!" Taunna seemed confused.  
    "Not by daylight we couldn', no. We just had ter rethink a bit. Spent a couple o' days lyin' low up in the cave an' watchin'. An' wha' we saw wasn' good."  
    "Did he rip off more heads?" asked Hermione, sounding squeamish.  
    "No," said Hagrid, "I wish he had."  
    "What d'you mean?" Hermione asked.  
    "I mean we soon found out he didn' object ter all wizards -just us."  
        "Death Eaters?" said Harry quickly.  
    "Yep," said Hagrid darkly. "Couple oi 'em were visitin' him ev'ry day, bringin' gifts ter the Gurg, an' he wasn' dangling them upside down."  
    "How d'you know they were Death Eaters?" said Ron.  
    "Because I recognised one of 'em," Hagrid growled. "Macnair, remember him? Bloke they sent ter kill Buckbeak? Maniac, he is. L.ikes killin' as much as Golgomath; no wonder they were gettin' on so well."  
    "So Macnair's persuaded the giants to join You-Know-Who?" said Hermione desperately.  
    "Hold yer Hippogriffs, I haven' finished me story yet!" said Hagrid indignantly, who, considering he had not wanted to tell them anything in the first place, now seemed to be rather enjoying himself. Taunna flinched.  "Me an' Olympe talked it over an' we agreed, jus' 'cause the Gurg looked like favourin' You-Know-Who didn' mean all of 'em would. We had ter try an' persuade some o' the others, the ones who hadn' wanted Golgomath as Gurg."  
    "How could you tell which ones they were?" asked Ron.  
"Well, they were the ones bein' beaten to a pulp, weren' they?" said Hagrid patiently. "The ones with any sense were keepin' outta Golgomath's way, hidin' out in caves roun' the gully jus' like we were. So we decided we'd go pokin' round the caves by night an' see if we couldn' persuade a few o' them."  
    "You went poking around dark caves looking for giants?" said Ron, with awed respect in his voice.  
    "Well, it wasn' the giants who worried us most," said Hagrid. "We were more concerned abou' the Death Eaters. Dumbledore had told us before we wen' not ter tangle with 'em if we could avoid it, an' the trouble was they knew we was around - 'spect Golgomath told 'em abou' us. At night, when the giants were sleepin' an' we wanted ter be creepin' inter the caves, Macnair an' the other one were sneakin' round the mountains lookin' fer us. I was hard put to stop Olympe jumpin' out at 'em," said Hagrid, the corners of his mouth lifting his wild beard,  
"she was rarin' ter attack 'em . . . she's somethin' when she's roused, Olympe . . . fiery, yeh know . . . 'spect it's the French in her..."  
    Hagrid gazed misty-eyed into the fire . Taunna shuddered softly.  Harry allowed him thirty seconds of reminiscence before clearing his throat loudly.  
    "So, what happened? Did you ever get near any of the other giants?"  
    "What? Oh . . . oh, yeah, we did. Yeah, on the third night after Karkus was killed we crept outta the cave we'd bin hidin' in an' headed back down inter the gully, keepin' our eyes skinned fer the Death Eaters. Got inside a few o' the caves, no go - then, in abou' the sixth one, we found three giants hidin'."  
    "Cave must've been cramped." Ron remarked.  
    "Wasn' room ter swing a Kneazle," said Hagrid. It was Taunna's turn to choke on her tea.  
    "Didn't they attack you when they saw you?" asked Hermione.  
    "Probably woulda done if they'd bin in any condition," said Hagrid, "but they was badly hurt, all three o' them; Golgomath's lot had beaten 'em unconscious; they'd woken up an' crawled inter the nearest shelter they could find. Anyway, one o' them had a bit of English an' 'e translated fer the others, an' what we had ter say didn' seem ter go down too badly. So we kep' goin' back, visitin' the wounded...I reckon we had abou' six or seven o' them convinced at one poin'."  
    "Six or seven?" said Ron eagerly. "Well that's not bad - are they going to come over here and start fighting You-Know-Who with us?"  
    But Hermione said, "What do you mean 'at one point', Hagrid?"  
    Hagrid looked at her sadly. Taunna frowned.  
"No."  
    "Golgomath's lot raided the caves. The ones tha' survived didn' wan' no more ter to do with us after that."  
    "So . . . so there aren't any giants coming?" said Ron, looking disappointed.  
    "Nope," said Hagrid, heaving a deep sigh as he turned over his steak and applied the cooler side to his face, "but we did wha' we meant ter do, we gave 'em Dumbledore's message an' some o' them heard it an' I spect some o' them'll remember it. Jus' maybe, them that don' want ter stay around Golgomath'll move outta the mountains, an' there's gotta be a chance they'll remember Dumbledore's friendly to 'em . . . could be they'll come."  
    Snow was filling up the window now. Harry became aware that the knees of his robes were soaked through, Fang was drooling with his head in Harry's lap.  
    "Hagrid?" said Hermione quietly after a while.  
    "Mmm?"  
    "Did you . . . was there any sign of . . . did you hear anything about your . . . your . . . mother while you were there?" Hermione asked finally.  
    Hagrid's unobscured eye rested upon her and Hermione looked rather scared.  
    "I'm sorry . . . I . . . forget it - "  
    "Dead," Hagrid grunted. "Died years ago. They told me."  
    "Oh...I'm so sorry, Hagrid." Taunna said, her face conveying her condolences.  Hagrid shrugged his massive shoulders.  
    "No need," he said shortly. "Can't remember her much. Wasn' a great mother."  
    They were silent again. Hermione glanced nervously at Harry and Ron, plainly wanting them to speak.  


	18. The Inevitable

When Hermione's Daily Prophet arrived she smoothed it out, gazed for a moment at the front page and gave a yelp that caused everyone in the vicinity to stare at her.  
    "What?" said Harry and Ron together.   
    For an answer, she spread the newspaper on the table in front of them and pointed at ten black-and-white photographs that filled the whole of the front page, nine showing wizards' faces and the tenth, a witch's. Some of the people in the photographs were silently jeering; others were tapping their fingers on the frame of their pictures, looking insolent. Each picture was captioned with a name and the crime for which the person had been sent to Azkaban.  
Taunna stiffened immediately when she saw it.  
    Antonin Dolohov, read the legend beneath a wizard with a long, pale, twisted face who was sneering up at Harry convicted of the brutal murders of Gideon and Fabian Prewett.  
    Algernon Rookwood, said the caption beneath a pockmarked man with greasy hair who was leaning against the edge of his picture, looking bored, convicted of leaking Ministry of Magic secrets to He Who Must Not Be Named.  
  
    Bellatrix Lestrange, convicted of the torture and permanent incapacitation of Frank and Alice Longbottom.  
    Taunna felt her heart drop into her stomach when she read the headline.  
MASS BREAKOUT FROM AZKABAN  
MINISTRY FEARS BLACK IS 'RALLYING POINT'  
FOR OLD DEATH EATERS  
"Black?" said Harry loudly. "Not - ?"  
    "Shhh!" whispered Hermione desperately. "Not so loud - 'just read it!"  
'The Ministry of Magic announced late last night that there has been a mass breakout from Azkaban.  
    Speaking to reporters in his private office, Cornelius Fudge, Minister for Magic, confirmed that ten high-security prisoners escaped in the early hours of yesterday evening and that he has already informed the Muggle Prime Minister of the dangerous nature of these individuals.  
    'We find ourselves, most, unfortunately, in the same position we were two and a half years ago when the murderer Sirius Black escaped,' said Fudge last night. 'Nor do we think the two breakouts are unrelated. An escape of this magnitude suggests outside help, and we must remember that Black, as the first person ever to break out of Azkaban, would be ideally placed to help others follow in his footsteps. We think it likely that these individuals, who include Black's cousin, Bellatrix Lestrange, have rallied around Black as their leader. We are, however, doing all we can to round up the criminals, and we beg the magical community to remain alert and cautious. On no account should any of these individuals be approached.'  
"There you are, Harry," said Ron, looking awestruck. "That's why he was happy last night."  
   "And now Fudge is gonna get us all killed by denying that Voldemort's back-stop whimpering, Ron, it's true," Taunna said. Maybe not her or some of the Slytherin, though.  
But as reality sank in, so too did the knowledge that now her mother was free, she would come looking for Taunna.

* * *

"Oh, my - " said Hermione wonderingly, still staring at the newspaper.  
    "What now?" said Harry quickly.  
    "It's . . . horrible," said Hermione, looking shaken. She folded back page ten of the newspaper and handed it to Harry and Ron.  
TRAGIC DEMISE OF MINISTRY OF MAGIC WORKER  
St Mungo's Hospital promised a full inquiry last night after Ministry of Magic worker Broderich Bode, 49, was discovered dead in his bed, strangled by a pot plant. Healers called to the scene were unable to revive Mr Bode, who had been injured in a workplace accident some weeks prior to his death.  
    Healer Miriam Strout, who was in charge of Mr Bode's ward at the time of the incident, has been suspended on full pay and was unavailable for comment yesterday, but a spokeswizard for the hospital said in a statement:  
    "St Mungo's deeply regrets the death of Mr Bode, whose health was improving steadily prior to this tragic accident.  
    'We have strict guidelines on the decorations permitted on our wards but it appears that Healer Strout, busy over the Christmas period, overlooked the dangers of the plant on Mr Bode's bedside table. As his speech and mobility improved, Healer Strout encouraged Mr Bode to look after the plant himself, unaware that it was not an innocent Flitterbloom, but a cutting of Devil's Snare which, when touched by the convalescent Mr Bode, throttled him instantly.  
    "St Mungo's is as yet unable to account for the presence of the plant on the ward and asks any witch or wizard with information to come forward." Taunna frowned. That didn't sound good. Hermione rushed off in a great hurry.  
  
  
"hey, Hagrid!"  
    Hagrid was standing beside the doors into the Entrance Hall, waiting for a crowd of Ravenclaws to pass. He was still as heavily bruised as he had been on the day he had come back from his mission to the giants and there was a new cut right across the bridge of his nose.  
    "All righ', you three?" he said, trying to muster a smile but managing only a kind of pained grimace.  
    "Are you OK, Hagrid?" asked Harry, following him as he lumbered after the Ravenclaws.  
    "Fine, fine," said Hagrid with a feeble assumption of airiness; he waved a hand and narrowly missed concussing a frightened-looking Professor Vector, who was passing. "Jus' busy, yeh know, the usual stuff - lessons ter prepare - couple o' salamanders got scale rot - an' I'm on probation," he mumbled.  
    "You're on probation?" said Ron very loudly, so that many of the passing students looked around curiously. Taunna narrowed her eyes."Sorry - I mean - you're on probation?" he whispered.   
    Yeah," said Hagrid. ' "S'no more'n I expected, ter tell ye the truth. Yeh migh' not've picked up on it, bu' that inspection didn' go too well, yeh know . . . anyway," he sighed deeply. "Bes' go an' rub a bit more chilli powder on them salamanders or their tails'll be hangin' off 'em next. See yeh, Harry . . . Ron . .Taunna"  
    He trudged away, out of the front doors and down the stone steps into the damp grounds. They watched him go, wondering how much more bad news he could stand.  
  
The fact that Hagrid was now on probation became common knowledge within the school over the next few days, but to their indignation, hardly anybody appeared to be upset about it; indeed, some people, Draco Malfoy prominent among them, seemed positively gleeful. As for the freakish death of an obscure Department of Mysteries employee in St Mungo's, Harry, Ron, Hermione and taunna seemed to be the only people who knew or cared. There was only one topic of conversation in the corridors now: the ten escaped Death Eaters, whose story had finally filtered through the school from those few people who read the newspapers. Rumours were flying that some of the convicts had been spotted in Hogsmeade, that they were supposed to be hiding out in the Shrieking Shack and that they were going to break into Hogwarts, just as Sirius Black had once done.  
    Those who came from wizarding families had grown up hearing the names of these Death Eaters spoken with almost as much fear as Voldemorts; the crimes they had committed during the days of Voldemort's reign of terror were legendary.  
As if that wasn't bad enough, relatives of Death Eaters, Taunna included, were given a wide berth in the corridors. There were relatives of their victims among the Hogwarts students, who now found themselves the unwilling objects of a gruesome sort of reflected fame as they walked the corridors: Susan Bones, whose uncle, aunt and cousins had all died at the hands of one of the ten, said miserably during Herbology that she now had a good idea what it felt like to be Harry.  
    "And I don't know how you stand it - it's horrible," she said bluntly, dumping far too much dragon manure on her tray of Screechsnap seedlings, causing them to wriggle and squeak in discomfort.  
    It was true that Harry was the subject of much-renewed muttering and pointing in the corridors these days, yet Taunna thought she detected a slight difference in the lone of the whisperers' voices. They sounded curious rather than hostile now, and once or twice they overheard snatches of conversation that, suggested that the speakers were not satisfied with the Prophet's version of how and why ten Death Eaters had managed to break out of the Azkaban fortress. In their confusion and fear, these doubters now seemed to be turning to the only other explanation available to them: the one that Harry and Dumbledore had been expounding since the previous year.  
    It was not only the students' mood that had changed. It was now quite common to come across two or three teachers conversing in low, urgent whispers in the corridors, breaking off their conversations the moment they saw students approaching.  
    "They obviously can't talk freely in the staff room anymore," said Hermione in a low voice, as she, Harry, Ron and Taunna passed Professors McGonagall, Flitwick and Sprout huddled together outside the Charms classroom one day. "Not with Umbridge there."  
    "Reckon they know anything new?" said Ron, gazing back over his shoulder at the three teachers.  
    "If they do, we're not going to hear about it, are we?" said Harry angrily. "Not after Decree . . . what number are we on now?" For new notices had appeared on the house noticeboards the morning after news of the Azkaban breakout:  
BY ORDER OF THE HIGH INQUISITOR OF HOGWARTS  
Teachers are hereby banned from giving students any information  
that is not strictly related to the subjects they are paid to teach.  
The above is in accordance with Educational Decree  
Number Twenty-six.  
Signed: Dolores Jane Umbridge, High Inquisitor  
This latest Decree had been the subject of a great number of jokes among the students. Lee Jordan had pointed out to Umbridge that by the terms of the new rule she was not allowed to tell Fred and George off for playing Exploding Snap in the back of the class.  
    "Exploding Snap's got nothing to do with Defence Against the Dark Arts, Professor! That's not information relating to your subject!"  
      
    It seemed to Taunna that Umbridge was steadily depriving them of everything that made life at Hogwarts worth living: visits to Hagrid's house, Harry's happiness, any chance to work on whatever this was between them.  
    Taunna noticed Harry was happiest in the DA. He was pleased to see that all of them, even Zacharias Smith, had been spurred on to work harder than ever by the news that ten more Death Eaters were now on the loose, but in nobody was this improvement more pronounced than in Neville. The news of his parents' attackers' escape had wrought a strange and even slightly alarming change in him.   
     
With so much to worry about and so much to do - startling amounts of homework that frequently kept the fifth-years working until past midnight, secret DA sessions and attempting to conceal their secret mission - January seemed to be passing alarmingly fast. Before they knew it, February had arrived, bringing with it wetter and warmer weather and the prospect of the second Hogsmeade visit of the year.    
But, most intensely, Valentine's Day.  
Taunna had no idea what Harry had dreamed up-if anything-for it.  
     
    She was waiting for him a little to the side of the oak front doors, looking very pretty with her hair tied back in a long pony-tail. Harry's feet seemed to be too big for his body as he walked towards her and Taunna chuckled slightly.  
   "Hi." She mumbled.  
    "Hi," said Harry.  
    They stared at each other for a moment, then Harry said, 'Well - er - shall we go, then?'  
    "Oh - yes . ."  
  
  
Taunna was holding his elbow as they trodded through Hogsmeade.  
"I think this is the first time we've had a chance to talk since this year started." She said, looking at Harry.  
"Yes...I'm sorry about that." He mumbled.  
"It's ok."

 


	19. Everything Is Different

Harry was her boyfriend, Taunna reminded herself.   
So, why then, was it so awkward to be sitting across from him a booth in The Hogs Head? Why did Taunna find herself looking around for Ron and Hermione? It was Valentine's Day and all they were doing was sitting in a booth staring into their Butter beers.   
Taunna took a small sip of hers, .before sighing.  
"What time is it?" She asked, her back was facing the clock.  
"It's Noon." Harry replied."  
"Do you want to get out of here?"  
"Ye," Harry said eagerly.  Taunna finished her butterbeer, before standing up.  
They took a walk over to the Shrieking Shack before Taunna asked  
"Why is this so hard? Any other time, we wouldn't be able to stop talking. Now, the silence is suffocating."  
"I'm not sure we were meant for conventional dating." Harry shrugged.  
"Me either." Taunna exhaled.  They stared up at the Shack, a quiet once again blanketing them.  
She turned to Harry again, and their eyes met.   
"I think this is the part where we kiss."  
"Me too."  
And that's exactly what happened.  
  
  
  
 If it had not been for the DA lessons, Harry thought he would have been extremely unhappy otherwise. He told Taunna that sometimes felt he was living for the hours he spent in the Room of Requirement, working hard but thoroughly enjoying himself at the same time. Indeed, Harry sometimes wondered how Umbridge was going to react when all the members of the DA received 'Outstanding' in their Defence Against the Dark Arts OWLs.  
    They had finally started work on Patronuses, which everybody had been very keen to practise, though, as Harry kept reminding them, producing a Patronus in the middle of a brightly lit classroom when they were not under threat was very different from producing it when confronted by something like a Dementor.  
   It was their last lesson before Easter.   
  Neville was having trouble.His Face was screwed up in concentration, but only feeble wisps of silver smoke issued from his wand tip.  
    "You've got to think of something happy," Harry reminded him.  
    "I'm trying," said Neville miserably, who was trying so hard his round face was actually shining with sweat.  
    "Harry, I think I'm doing it!" yelled Seamus, who had been brought along to his first ever DA meeting by Dean. "Look - ah - 'it's gone . . . but it was definitely something hairy, Harry!"  
Across the room, Taunna's wand produced a shimmering grey bear, which barreled across the room.  
    Hermione's Patronus, a shining silver otter, was gambolling around her.  
    "They are sort of nice, aren't they?" she said, looking at it fondly.  
    The door of the Room of Requirement opened, and closed. Harry looked round to see who had entered, but there did not seem to be anybody there. It was a few moments before he realized that the people close to the door had fallen silent. Next thing they knew, something was tugging at Harry's robes somewhere near the knee. Taunna looked down and saw, to her very great astonishment, Dobby the house-elf peering up at him from beneath his usual eight woolly hats.  
    "Hi, Dobby!"Harry said. "What are you - What's wrong?"  
    The elf's eyes were wide with terror and he was shaking. The members of the DA closest to Harry had fallen silent; everybody in the room was watching Dobby. The few Patronuses people had managed to conjure faded away into silver mist, leaving the room looking much darker than before.  
    "Harry Potter, sir . . ." squeaked the elf, trembling from head to foot, "Harry Potter, sir . . . Dobby has come to warn you . . . but the house-elves have been warned not to tell . . ."  
    He ran head-first at the wall. Harry, who had some experience of Dobby s habits of self-punishment, made to seize him, but Dobby merely bounced off the stone, cushioned by his eight hats. Hermione and a few of the other girls let out squeaks of fear and sympathy.  
    "What's happened, Dobby?" Harry asked, grabbing the elf's tiny arm and holding him away from anything with which he might seek to hurt himself.  
    "Harry Potter . . . she . . . she . . ."  
    Dobby hit himself hard on the nose with his free fist. Harry seized that, too.  
    "Who's "she", Dobby?"  
    But he thought he knew; surely only one 'she' could induce such fear in Dobby? The elf looked up at him, slightly cross-eyed, and mouthed wordlessly.  
    "Umbridge?" asked Harry, horrified.  
    Dobby nodded, then tried to bang his head on Harry's knees. Harry held him at arm's length.  
    "What about her? Dobby - she hasn't found out about this - 'about us - about the DA?"  
    He read the answer in the elf's stricken face. His hands held fast by Harry, the elf tried to kick himself and fell to the floor.  
    "Is she coming?" Harry asked quietly.  
    Dobby let out a howl, and began beating his bare feet hard on the floor.  
    "Yes, Harry Potter, yes!"  
    Harry straightened up and looked around at the motionless, terrified people gazing at the thrashing elf.  
    "WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?" Harry bellowed. "RUN!"  
    They all pelted towards the exit at once, forming a scrum at the door, then people burst through. Taunna could hear them sprinting along the corridors and hoped they had the sense not to try and make it all the way to their dormitories. It was only ten to nine; if they just took refuge in the library or the Owlery, which were both nearer - '  
   Harry scooped up Dobby, who was still attempting to do himself serious injury, and ran with the elf in his arms to join the back of the queue.  
    "Dobby - this is an order - get back down to the kitchen with the other elves and, if she asks you whether you warned me, lie and say no!" said Harry. "And I forbid you to hurt yourself!" he added, dropping the elf as he made it over the threshold at last and slammed the door behind him.  
    "Thank you, Harry Potter!" squeaked Dobby, and he streaked off.


	20. And It All Comes Down

Taunna was surprised as Harry raced out of one of their O.W.Ls. Taunna rushed out behind him, nervous.  
Had he had another dream?  
    He was running, pushing students out of the way, oblivious to their angry protests.  
    "Harry!" said Hermione at once, looking very frightened. "What happened? Are you all right? Are you ill?"  
    "Where have you been?" demanded Ron.  
"Are you ok?" Taunna asked, meeting his eyes.  
    "Come with me,:" Harry said quickly. "Come on, I've got to tell you something."  
    He led them along the first-floor corridor, peering through doorways, and at last found an empty classroom into which he dived, closing the door behind Ron, Hermione and Taunna the moment they were inside, and leant against it, facing them.  
    "Voldemorts got Sirius." Taunna's face darkened.  
    "What?"  
    "How d'you - ?"Ron sputtered.  
    "Saw it. Just now. When I fell asleep in the exam."  
    "But - but where? How?" said Hermione, whose face was white.  
    "I dunno how," said Harry. "But I know exactly where. There's a room in the Department of Mysteries full of shelves covered in these little glass balls and they're at the end of row ninety-seven . . . he's trying to use Sirius to get whatever it is he wants from in there . . . he's torturing him . . . says he'll end by killing him!"  
    Harry's voice was shaking, as were his knees. He moved over to a desk and sat down on it, trying to master himself.  
    "How're we going to get there?" he asked them.  
    There was a moment's silence. Then Ron said, "G-get there?"  
    "Get to the Department of Mysteries, so we can rescue Sirius!" Harry said loudly. Taunna jumped at the change in his tone.  
    "But - Harry . . ." said Ron weakly.  
    "What? What?" said Harry.  
    "Harry," said Hermione in a rather frightened voice, "er . . . how . . . how did Voldemort get into the Ministry of Magic without anybody realising he was there?"  
    "How do I know?" bellowed Harry. "The question is how we're going to get in there!"  
    "But . . . Harry, think about this," said Hermione, taking a step towards him, "its five o'clock in the afternoon . . . the Ministry of Magic must be full of workers . . . how would Voldemort and Sirius have got in without being seen? Harry . . . they're probably the two most wanted wizards in the world . . . you think they could get into a building full of Aurors undetected?"  
   "Hermione, the ministry wouldn't be prepared for Voldemort-Ron, stop whimpering!- For Voldemort. He's a very powerful wizard, any charm the ministry would put in place would be child's play for him to break."Taunna explained.  
    "But this is just - just so unlikely!" said Hermione desperately. "Harry, how on earth could Voldemort have got hold of Sirius when he's been in Grimmauld Place all the time?"  
    "Sirius might've cracked and just wanted some fresh air," said Ron, sounding worried. "He's been desperate to get out of that house for ages - "  
    "But why," Hermione persisted, "why on earth would Voldemort want to use Sirius to get the weapon, or whatever the thing is?"  
    "You know what, I've just thought of something," said Ron in a hushed voice. "Sirius's brother was a Death Eater, wasn't he? Maybe he told Sirius the secret of how to get the weapon!"  
    "Yeah - and that's why Dumbledore's been so keen to keep Sirius locked up all the time!" said Harry.  
"But he's also part of the Order, Hermione. Maybe he thinks that Sirius would know because he's in the order." Taunna cut in.  
    "Look, I'm sorry," cried Hermione, "but neither of you are making sense, and we've got no proof for any of this, no proof Voldemort and Sirius are even there - "  
    "Hermione, Harry's seen them!" said Ron, rounding on her.  
    "OK," she said, looking frightened yet determined, "I've just got to say this - "  
    "What?"  
    "You . . . this isn't a criticism, Harry! But you do . . . sort of . . . I mean - don't you think you've got a bit of a - a - saving-people thing?" she said.  
"Chronic Hero Syndrome? Yeah, we've figured that out, Hermione. Your point?"Taunna crossed her arms.  
    "Well . . . you . . ." Hermione looked more apprehensive than ever. "I mean . . . last year, for instance . . . in the lake . . . during the Tournament . . . you shouldn't have . . . I mean, you didn't need to save that little Delacour girl . . . you got a bit . . . carried away . . ."  
    "I mean, it was really great of you and everything," said Hermione quickly, looking positively petrified at the look on Harry's face, "everyone thought it was a wonderful thing to do -"  
    "That's funny," said Harry through gritted teeth, "because I definitely remember Ron saying I'd wasted time acting the hero . . . is that what you think this is? You reckon I want to act the hero again?"  
    "No, no, no!" said Hermione, looking aghast." That's not what I mean at all!"  
    "Well, spit out what you've got to say because we're wasting time here!" Harry shouted. Taunna flinched as he yelled.  
    "I'm trying to say - Voldemort knows you, Harry! He took Ginny down into the Chamber of Secrets to lure you there, it's the kind of thing he does, he knows you're the - the sort of person who'd go to Sirius's aid! What if he's just trying to get you into the Department of Myst - ?" "Hermione, it doesn't matter if he's done it to get me there or not - they've taken McGonagall to St Mungo's, there isn't anyone from the Order left at Hogwarts who we can tell, and if we don't go, Sirius is dead!"  
    "But Harry - what if your dream was - was just that, a dream?"  
    Harry let out a roar of frustration. Hermione actually stepped back from him, looking alarmed.  
    "You don't get it!" Harry shouted at her, "I'm not having nightmares, I'm not just dreaming! What d'you think all the Occlumency was for, why d'you think Dumbledore wanted me prevented from seeing these things? Because they're REAL, Hermione - Sirius is trapped, I've seen him. Voldemort's got him, and no one else knows, and that means we're the only ones who can save him, and if you don't want to do it, fine, but I'm going, understand? And if I remember rightly, you didn't have a problem with my saving-people thing when it was you I was saving from the Dementors, or - " he rounded on Ron "- when it was your sister I was saving from the Basilisk - "  
    "I never said I had a problem!" said Ron heatedly.  
    "But Harry, you've just said it," said Hermione fiercely, "Dumbledore wanted you to learn to shut these things out of your mind, if you'd done Occlumency properly you'd never have seen this - "  
    "IF YOU THINK I'M JUST GOING TO ACT LIKE I HAVEN'T SEEN - "  
"Harry!" Taunna barked over him."Calm.Down.  We have to take rational steps."  
    The classroom door opened. Harry, Ron.Hermione and Taunna whipped around. Ginny walked in, looking curious, closely followed by Luna, who as usual looked as though she had drifted in accidentally.  
    "Hi," said Ginny uncertainly. "We recognised Harry's voice. What are you yelling about?"  
    "Never you mind," said Harry roughly.  
"Harry," Taunna warned.  
    Ginny raised her eyebrows.  
 "I was only wondering whether I could help.'  
    "Well, you can't," said Harry shortly.  
    "You're being rather rude, you know," said Luna serenely.  
    Harry swore and turned away.   
    "Wait," said Hermione suddenly. "Wait . . . Harry, they can help."  
    Harry and Ron looked at her.  
    "Listen," she said urgently, "Harry, we need to establish whether Sirius really has left Headquarters."  
    "I've told you, I saw - "  
    "Harry, I'm begging you, please!" said Hermione desperately. "Please let's just check that Sirius isn't at home before we go charging off to London. If we find out he's not there, then I swear I won't try to stop you. I'll come, I'll d - do whatever it takes to try and save him."  
    "Sirius is being tortured NOW!" shouted Harry. "We haven't got time to waste."  
    "But if this is a trick of Voldemort's, Harry, we've got to check, we've got to."  
    "How?" Harry demanded. "How're we going to check?"  
    "We'll have to use Umbridge's fire and see if we can contact him," suggested Taunna. "We'll draw Umbridge away again, but we'll need lookouts, and that's where we can use Ginny and Luna."

Taunna hung back as The DA spoke hurriedly.  
"So," said Ron, pushing aside a low-hanging branch and holding out Harry's wand, "had any ideas?"  
    "How did you get away?" asked Harry in amazement, taking his wand from Ron.  
    "Couple of Stunners, a Disarming Charm, Neville brought off a really nice little Impediment Jinx," said Ron airily, now handing back Hermione's wand, too. 'Taunna elbowed Parkinson in the face. But Ginny was best, she got Malfoy - Bat-Bogey Hex - it was superb, his whole face was covered in the great flapping things. Anyway, we saw you out of the window heading into the Forest and followed.What've you done with Umbridge?"  
    "She got carried away," said Harry. "By a herd of centaurs."  
    "And they left you behind?" asked Ginny, looking astonished.  
    "No, they got chased off by Grawp," said Harry.  
    "Who's Grawp?" Luna asked interestedly.  
    "Hagrid's little brother," said Ron promptly. '"Anyway, never mind that now. Harry, what did you find out in the fire? Has You-Know-Who got Sirius or - ?"  
    "Yes," said Harry, as Taunna stiffened.  
 "and I'm sure Sirius is still alive, but I can't see how we're going to get there to help him."  
    They all fell silent, looking rather scared; the problem facing them seemed insurmountable.  
    "Well, we'll have to fly, won't we?" said Luna, in the closest thing to a matter-of-fact voice Harry had ever heard her use.  
   "'OK," said Harry irritably, rounding on her. "First of all, "we" aren't doing anything if you're including yourself in that, and second of all, Ron's me only one with a broomstick that isn't being guarded by a security troll, so - "  
   "'I've got a broom!" said Ginny.  
    "Yeah, but you're not coming," said Ron angrily.  
    "Excuse me, but I care what happens to Sirius as much as you do!" said Ginny, her jaw set so that her resemblance to Fred and George was suddenly striking.  
    "You're too - " Harry began, but Ginny said fiercely,   
"I'm three years older than you were when you fought You-Know-Who over the Philosophers Stone, and it's because of me that Malfoy's stuck back in Umbridge's office with giant flying bogies attacking him - "  
    "Yeah, but - "  
    "We were all in the DA together," said Neville quietly. "It was all supposed to be about fighting You-Know-Who, wasn't it? And this is the first chance we've had to do something real - or was that all just a game or something?"  
    "No - of course, it wasn't - " said Harry impatiently.  
    "Then we should come too," said Neville simply. "We want to help."  
      
  
As the others sped off to the forest, Taunna carefully approached Harry.  
"You know why I can't go, Harry," Taunna said quietly.   
"Of course I do." He gently kissed her before catching up with DA. 


	21. When The Darkness Beckons

Taunna visited Harry in the hospital wing every day after the DA went to the Ministry. Fudge was finally seeing that The Dark Lord had returned and had resigned.  They were in for another war.  
Taunna could feel it. Harry agreed.  
Their lives would never be the same again. She held his hand, talked to him often. But she had this overwhelming feeling that it would a long time before they saw each other before he saw her the same way again.    
  
  
After he was released, Taunna found him on the last day of term sitting by himself.  
"Penny for your thoughts?" She asked, sitting beside him.  
"Last year, you said that you would never betray me...You'd never join him."Harry said quietly.  
"I did. I promised." Taunna replied.  
"I'm asking you to break that promise."  
"Harry! I could never"  
"He's going to hurt you. If you run anywhere he'll find you.  Don't make your life any more difficult. Do what you have to do." He said.   
"Harry....What you're asking me to do"  
"Is the best thing for us. I love you and the last thing I want is for you to get hurt, Don't make this any harder than it has to be. Please."  
  
So that ended that. One entire year's worth of effort, of feelings. All down the drain. Taunna was feeling more alone than ever now. He was gone.  He was really gone and she would never be able to live with that.  
  
  
She was welcomed back to Malfoy Manor with open arms. Her mother was overjoyed, it seemed, to see her daughter after fourteen years.   
"My darling, my pet. My beautiful daughter."She cooed over her daughter.  
"Mother." Taunna would never admit it, but despite the cold in the room, her mother's embrace was warm and tender. She had never thought it possible of this woman, but she seemed to genuinely care for her daughter. Even Rudolphus gave her a quick smile. Bellatrix doted on her daughter for a time, commenting how big she was, how beautiful she was, how proud she was of her. And then  
"He's here! The Dark Lord is here."  
Taunna stiffened.  
  
  
                                                                                      FIN


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